Obsession
by PandaPjays
Summary: Kai lived a normal life until he first saw Rei. It wasn't supposed to happen, he knew it was wrong, but now obsession grips him and will never let him go AU KaRe TalaBryan.
1. Morning Hell

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Morning Hell

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **I'm Back! And with Obsession- the 'Kai's a creepy stalker' fic I've been planning for a while. I would continue to ramble on up here but am too tired to. So! Enjoy the first chapter! I should be updating soon since I'm on holidays but I'm about to go on a trip down to Brisbane for a week to see family so we'll see what happens with that.

* * *

Kai glared at his coffee machine. He knew that it was mocking him. It was waiting for him to go and call someone to help him repair it before it would magically begin working again. He knew it. He hit the thing, trying to get some sign of life about the machine.

It didn't work.

Kai growled beneath his breath and hit the infernal device again, harder. All that this succeeded in doing was making his hand begin to sting. He gave the machine one last hateful glare before he turned to the kettle sitting right beside it and clicked it on while suppressing a shudder.

He had bought the coffee machine in an attempt to get away from instant coffee. He had been hoping that buying the coffee machine would mean that he would never again have to taste the flavourlessness of instant coffee. That is, if his brand-new machine decided to work.

He reached into his pantry, grumbling about cheap products under his breath, and retrieved the jar of instant coffee he had triumphantly thrown into the back of the cupboard only a few days before. Bringing it out into the light of day, Kai sent it a glare that would have stripped paint. The glass didn't have any paint on it, though, and remained unaffected.

Kai set the jar on the table and searched in one of the kitchen drawers for a teaspoon to make the hated instant coffee. Having found one, he put it on the bench with loud clang before shutting the drawer. He then began spooning the instant coffee into the cup he had been hoping to pour freshly brewed coffee into.

He poured the now boiled water into the cup, deciding to have black coffee - just to make the start of his day _that_ much better. He grumbled to himself as he lifted the cup to his lips for that first fateful sip. The sip that would definitely confirm that he was indeed awake.

…And indeed had a burnt mouth. He put the cup down quickly and spilled some of the scalding hot coffee on his hand. "Shit," he muttered, shaking his hand desperately, trying to stop it from burning. It wasn't going too well.

When his hand had stopped feeling like it was an amputee candidate, Kai tentatively reached out to pick up the cup again and took another sip. It was during the second sip that Kai saw something that made his blood run cold.

The coffee machine _wasn't_ _plugged in_.

Kai growled under his breath and took another sip of his needlessly instant coffee. Today was _not_ his day.

When he had finished his cup, Kai defiantly plugged in the machine that had been the bane of his morning.

He gave the machine a pointed glare before leaving the kitchen to go and retrieve a tie from his bedroom.

Ah, the humble tie. If the coffee machine had been the bane of his morning, ties were the bane of his life. Kai saw no point in them - they seemed to be the eternal neck warmer when it was the middle of summer. That, and it was hard to pick a tie that didn't look truly horrific.

Kai quickly tied the dark blue tie he had chosen and gave the evil coffee machine one last death glare before storming out the door. He paused to lock it and then began the long and arduous walk down the hallway of his apartment block, toward the elevators.

It was on this walk that Kai began to recite all of the excuses that he could use to get out of work. This week the 'sore throat' excuse seemed to be the favourite. Kai continued walking though. He could just imagine his boss's face if he called in sick. It would _not_ be pretty.

The general rule was to not piss off Johnny McGregor. _Ever._

Kai growled to himself as he pressed the button on the lift to go down. He blamed his grandfather for all of this. Most people would call him childish for blaming his problems on some senile old man but in Kai's case the blame was well placed.

Kai's family had once been the rich of the rich. His grandfather, the formerly esteemed Voltaire Hiwatari, had been not only _a_ business tycoon but _the_ business tycoon. That was, until the Russian government had caught up with him.

The list of crimes against humanity, the government, etcetera was impressive, to say the least and led to the downfall of the Hiwatari dynasty.

And also lead to Kai's employment as Johnny's underling in the Scotsman's advertising firm.

_Life is not fair_ Kai decided as he walked into a newsagent and paid for a copy of the local paper. Normally there was something interesting to read in there if you squinted and tried to ignore how boring the actual stories were. At least it was something to do as he caught a bus to work.

When Kai stepped on to the bus he looked for his seat. He caught this bus every working day of the week and all of the regulars on the bus route knew him and were scared of the pain promised by the glare he shot to anyone who sat in _his_ seat.

He settled in to his seat and looked at the front cover of the paper. The only semi-interesting thing that seemed to be on there was an advertisement advertising a new café. Kai noted with interest that it was only a few blocks from the hell that he liked to call… well… _hell_. Most people referred to it as McGregor Visionaries.

Kai sighed as the bus made it's inevitable way towards its destination. Maybe, he would at least have something interesting to do on his lunch. He wanted to go and look at that new café.

_-o-_

"Kai!" Johnny yelled at the Russian from the door of his office. "Where are those accounts?"

Kai growled under his breath before turning to face Johnny. "There's no need to yell. I'm right next to your door." He told the Scotsman calmly.

"Damn right you are. If you weren't, you wouldn't do any work. Now where are the accounts? I needed them yesterday." Johnny told him.

Kai's eyes narrowed. Just because he would never get 'Employee of the month' didn't mean that Johnny had to give him a hateful death glare every time they crossed paths, did it?

Kai looked up again at Johnny… Apparently it did.

"They're coming…" He said eventually, trying to remember that even though Johnny was looking for a way to fire him without any unfair dismissal charge, he was also the one who paid him.

Kai sighed as turned back to his desk and looked at the figures on the screen of his computer. When he was growing up he thought that he would become something exciting, like an astronaut… or a fireman. In fact… anything other than what he was. Who dreamed of being an accountant working for the Earthly reincarnation of Satan?

Kai scanned the figures dully, trying to ignore the clock down at the bottom of the screen, slowly counting down to lunchtime.

_-o-_

Kai walked out of the building with relish. He was going to milk his lunch hour for every second it was worth.

He began walking toward the café he had read about in the paper. It didn't really sound like anything special. But it was something new.

_After all, isn't variety the spice of life?_ Kai thought as he rounded a corner, making his destination come into view.

Kai absently noted the sign above the door as he walked into the restaurant. _Gatling? Original…_He thought, glancing around to see that he was not the only one who had had the idea to come down there for lunch.

The café was crowded, actually. Kai hoped that he could find a table somewhere. The café didn't have the slightly seedy atmosphere that many of its brethren had. In fact, it was light and airy with a Chinese feel about it. All of the furniture was bamboo and the walls were decorated with scrolls of Chinese proverbs and the like.

Kai moved toward the counter, easily dodging the tables and random people who got in his way.

"How can I help you?" asked a red-haired man at the counter, leaning on the surface and smiling easily.

Kai glanced up at the menu decorating the wall behind the counter. "I'll have a chicken and lettuce sandwich and a mug-sized cappuccino." He said after some consideration, naming the largest sized cup. After his morning at work, he _needed_ it. He handed over the money, paying for what he had ordered without being asked.

"Ok then." The redhead reached underneath the counter and produced a metal stand holding a number. "Go and sit at a table and your food will be with you shortly." He smiled again, his blue eyes twinkling before turning to serve someone else that had walked up to the counter. "How can I help you?"

Kai glanced at his number. _Thirteen? Great. That's just great. Like my luck isn't as bad as it's ever going to get anyway_. He grumbled inwardly to himself as he looked around the café to find himself a seat.

Someone stood up from a table in the corner of the room and began to walk out. Kai quickly made his way over to the table and sat down at it, keeping his back to the wall and watching the other patrons of the café.

He gave his number one last grudging glance before placing it squarely in the centre of the table. _Maybe it's not as unlucky as it seems_ he conceded. _After all, I did get this table._

Kai began to people watch absently. Behind the counter of the café were two people, one of them was the redhead who had served him and the other was another man, this one with light purple hair. He didn't seem as much of a 'people person' as his counterpart.

_If you didn't like people that much why would you get a job where you have to look at them all day? _Kai wondered as he began twirling his number, bored. _Then again, why get a job where you have to stare at numbers all day when you hate maths?_ Kai smirked and shook his head. _I can't believe I just started to argue with myself. Signs that you are going insane. I can see it now. I could make a book and publish it- I could-_

Kai stopped his train of thought as a vision of beauty walked through the doors that presumably led to the kitchen.

He had never considered himself to be anything other than straight, hadn't really thought about it, actually. But he knew that without a doubt he'd become gay for the man who had just walked through the doors of the kitchen.

He had long black hair, which he'd tied into a wrap, presumably for hygiene reasons. He'd tied a white headband around his head to keep his hair out of his eyes. On anyone else it would have looked horribly out of fashion but this man seemed to be able to pull it off.

_And pull it off well_ Kai though approvingly, looking the man up and down, taking in his all white clothing that he somehow had managed to keep stain free thus far and especially looking at his unusually coloured eyes.

_Whoever knew that people could actually have golden eyes? I thought that stuff was in stories and cartoons,_ Kai thought numbly, still staring at the other.

The man who had so captivated Kai's attention seemed to be unaware of his audience. He turned to the redhead and asked him a question to which he only received a nod and a one-word answer in reply. He nodded and disappeared back into the kitchen.

Kai let out the breath he didn't realise he was holding. Who _was_ that? He sat back in his seat and sighed. _I wish he'd come out again_.

Luck was on Kai's side as the man backed out of the kitchen, pushing the doors open with his shoulders and carrying two items.

_Wait is that… MY order?_ Kai thought as he looked at what the man was carrying.

The ebony-haired man looked around the café before his eyes alighted on the number he was looking for. He began to pick his way through the carnage of lunchtime at a café and to make his way toward Kai, who was trying not to hyperventilate.

_He's even more gorgeous up close._ Kai thought approvingly, he glanced a nametag clipped near the bottom of the other's shirt. _Rei…_ he Thought, putting a name to the face of the man who was still coming inevitably closer to him.

"Here's your order." Rei told him, smiling apologetically. "Sorry about it being so slow, it's crazy here." He grinned and took the empty plate that the table's previous owner had left on it and Kai had been pointedly ignoring. He also reached out to take Kai's lucky thirteen. "I hope you enjoy your meal." Rei told Kai as he stood up straight again and began making his way back to the kitchen.

Kai watched him leave with a pang of regret before he looked down at his meal. It certainly _looked_ nice. He hesitantly picked up his sandwich and took a bite of it. _Looks can be deceiving_.

Thankfully, they weren't this time. Kai closed his eyes as he ate the sandwich concentrating on the taste and enjoying every moment that his sandwich was still in existence, which wasn't very long. _I'd come back just for the food._ He thought, as he reached to drink from his mug of caffeine enriched liquid. _But mostly, I'm coming back tomorrow to see him._

_Rei. I'm coming back for you._

* * *

Please tell me what you think of the first chapter!


	2. Hectic Days

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Hectic Days

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! How fun! A whole new year to play with! I'm excited! Are you?

Well meh. Even if you aren't excited I'm on a sugar high so I can see nothing wrong with the world at this moment in time. All is cute All is tiger.

For those of you who have no idea where that line came from you're not alone. I have no idea either. But I like it. Anyway I should stop rambling and get on with the chapter.

* * *

Rei sat up, gasping in fright. When he saw where he was he lay back down on his bed, trying to control his breathing and calm himself down.

_It was just a dream. It was just a dream. It was just a dream. _He began to repeat to himself as he relaxed against the pillows of his bed.

The weird thing was that he couldn't actually remember what he was dreaming about. He knew that it had been bad, though. On a scale of one to bad it had been off the charts on the bad side. But he couldn't remember what it had been about.

Rei pouted to himself as he rolled over to glance at his alarm clock. He frowned and rubbed his eyes when the numbers appeared blurry. _This is why I hate mornings. Nothing works properly_. He looked again at the clock. _Goddamn it isn't even morning. This isn't even supposed to be a legitimate time. Who wakes up at this time?_

His alarm clock began bleep really loudly in his ear making Rei jump a foot off the bed. "WAH!" He yelled as gravity began to take effect again. _Ah. That's right. _I_ wake up at this time._

He rolled out of bed and on to the pile of pillows he had carefully laid out the night before in preparation for his morning routine. He had learned at an early age that the best way for him to wake up in the morning was to shock himself in some way or another. Falling off his bed seemed like the easiest way to do that but he didn't particularly like the pain that went along with it. Hence, the pillows.

Rei struggled out of his pillow pile and stood up, using the wall as a support. _I am so late_. He thought as he worked on straightening up and looking around at his room without it spinning. _I have to remember that I have to be ruthless with the alarm. Giving myself ten minutes to wake up and get to work is not being ruthless. That's pretending that I'm a morning person._

Rei sighed and began to shuffle to his bathroom. He splashed his face with a handful of water and looked at himself.

_I look dead_. He concluded as he searched around for his toothbrush. He knew that he had put it on the bench somewhe-there!

He loaded his newly acquired toothbrush with toothpaste and wet it, still trying to convince his tired body that yes, he was awake. It wasn't going so well. When he had finished brushing his teeth he sighed and began searching for a headband to wear to keep his hair out of his eyes. He found a black one and tied it around his forehead, running his fingers through the bangs of hair that fell over the bandanna.

He hadn't properly brushed his hair for at least a month. It was probably a foolish course of action, considering the length of his hair but he was really just too lazy to struggle with it. It was so much easier to wrap his hair into a seemingly-neat tail-thing. He wasn't even sure what his hairstyle of choice would be called. Frankly, he didn't care. Whatever worked.

He looked at the clock again and swore, running back to his bedroom to find some sort of clothing that looked presentable. Thankfully, he knew how he was in the mornings and ironed all of the clothes he would need on the weekend before his hectic week started.

He pulled a long white button up shirt from one of the hangers and quickly put it on his hand flying down the buttons doing them up quickly and miraculously buttoning each button up with the correct hole

"Pants…" He muttered, opening the chest of drawers that housed most of his clothing. "Here Pants." He called wheedlingly. He found them hiding beneath at least a dozen different garments that he was sure that he hadn't worn for years. Deciding not to question the inscrutable logic of his clothes drawers Rei pulled on his pants, hopping around the room as he pulled on the second leg and falling over for his trouble.

He cursed quietly as he pushed himself off the floor and stood up. _I hate mornings. They are evil and should be destroyed by some big destroy-ey God_, he thought maliciously as he stood up again. He surveyed his appearance in the full-length mirror that hid in the corner of his bedroom and, deciding that he wouldn't care if he were to look like rolling in the dump was his favourite pastime, sprinted out of his apartment. He paused only to snatch up his keys and wallet and to put on his shoes before he was out the door and running, trying to get to the café he owned fashionably late instead of horribly so.

_-0-_

"You're late." Lee told him flatly when Rei ran into the courtyard of The Gatling.

Rei made a face at the commander of Gatling's Kitchen. "I'm not late. I'm meant to own this joint, yes? I arrive when I mean to arrive."

Lee frowned and sighed. "I'm sure I've heard something like that before. Can't remember it though." He shrugged and leant against the front window of the café as Rei continued to struggle with the door. "You do know that you're using the safe key to try and open the door, don't you?" He asked mildly.

Rei looked down and cursed to see that the other was right. "I _hate_ mornings." He said vehemently as he located the right key and inserted it into the lock.

"So you get into a business where you're guaranteed to have to get up early? You must like torturing yourself." He paused to think for a second. "I guess that makes you a masochist then…" He said, trailing off to consider that rather disturbing possibility.

Rei grumbled beneath his breath as he finally got through the Godforsaken door. He dashed to the burglar alarm system and quickly entered the code. "Why do I put up with you?" he asked Lee plaintively.

"Because you're a masochist. You _like_ me wounding your manly pride."

Rei gave a bark of laughter at that. "Does that mean that you like wounding me? Sadistic bastard." He told the other matter-of-factly.

Lee sniffed. "I take offense to that. I am sadistic. _Not_ a bastard."

Rei rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Oh Sadistic One. Go do what I pay you to do." He said pointing to the kitchen.

The effect of his command was less than he had hoped for but still acceptable.

Lee mock-saluted and turned to disappear into his domain. "You know that you'll be back for more." He called over his shoulder before the door of the kitchen shut behind him.

Rei sighed and sat down at one of the tables, rubbing his temples. The sad thing was that Lee was right. At some point in the day Rei would end up in the kitchen talking to Lee and basically avoiding the world. He liked his chef's dry view of the world and arrogant confidence in his abilities, especially in the kitchen. It made him feel comfortable and made him, for a short time at least, forget that outside their conversation Rei's world was being held together with cheap sticky tape. In a metaphoric way.

A loud string of colorful curses announced the arrival of one of the other people who worked at the café.

"Bryan?" Rei asked mildly. "Do you even know what half of those words mean? That had to be at least ten different languages."

"Twelve, actually." Bryan told him as he walked into the doors and saw where Rei was sitting. "Swearing is the most important thing to learn in any language."

Rei raised an eyebrow at the Russian but decided not to comment. "Where's Tala?" He asked, looking around for the redhead. As far as he could figure Tala and Bryan had been car pooling ever since he had employed them. They always arrived and left at the same time.

"Parking the car." Bryan said offhandedly as he began to take down one of the tables he had stacked in the back of the café the previous day and take it outside to the courtyard.

"You do know that you're about 20 minutes late." Rei told him.

Bryan considered the reprimand for a second then shrugged. "Tala's fault."

Rei took a breath to begin trying to explain why that really wasn't an excuse, taking care to ignore his own lateness, when a blur with red hair burst through the door.

"Rei! I'm so sorry!" Tala said, panting, coming to stop in front of the Chinese man. He then launched into a very longwinded explanation of why he had been late. As far as Rei could understand it had to do with lumpy milk, a possessed iron and coffee. Why Tala couldn't have had coffee at the café was beyond Rei but he didn't question the redhead, merely tried to survive the onslaught of words. Tala could talk the ears off an elephant if he wanted to.

Luckily for Rei's ears, Tala didn't want to test that theory _just_ yet.

After Tala had finished his explanation he looked at Rei's expression of faint puzzlement and grinned. "I'm so glad that you understand!" He told the Chinese man before wandering away to go and help Bryan set up for the day.

Rei blinked as the redhead walked away from him. Every time he talked to Tala he ended up in the same weird state, knowing that he was supposed to have understood something but not having a clue what that something was. He swore that Tala did it on purpose.

In the back of the café a telephone began to ring, the annoying sound quickly followed by Lee's yell of, "REI! PHONE!"

Rei rolled his eyes before beginning to run for the phone. It was as if Lee couldn't comprehend that he wasn't the only one who could hear a ringing phone.

"Hello, The Gatling Café, Rei speaking" Rei said as he picked up the phone.

-Hello. This is Hiromi from Café Direct. I'm just calling to confirm the shipment of supplies that you ordered through our company.-

"Uh… yeah…" Rei said hesitatingly. _They arrive today? What day is it anyway?_ Rei thought, panicking and trying to find where the calendar was. He found it under a box of paper clips. _I really need to hang this thing up_ he thought as he scanned the calendar to a day marked in red.

_'Extra Supplies arrive today! Don't forget'_

_Figures_ Rei thought sarcastically as he turned his attention back to the girl on the phone. "Yeah those supplies. I know them," He said before realising how stupid he sounded.

The sound of Hiromi laughing filtered through the phone to his ear. -That's good to know.- She told him.

"Uh… yeah…" Rei said, distracted as he searched for something to stick the calendar up on the wall with.

-Anyway, so there is no problem with that? They will be arriving around twelve o'clock.-

"No. No problem."

-Good. Thank you for using our service. We hope to hear from you soon.- the woman on the other end of the phone finished and hung up.

Rei sighed as he hung up the phone. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about that. "Crap." He muttered to him self before turning around to almost run into Tala.

"What'cha swearin' about?" He asked innocently.

"Nothing." He told the redhead, trying to ignore the attack of cute being thrown in his direction.

"Good." Tala handed him a manky-looking knife and fork. "We found this in the garden around the courtyard. Can you take it into the grumpy one for me while I boot up the cash register?"

Rei raised an eyebrow. "The grumpy one? Why do you call him that?"

"Because he _is_." Tala insisted. "All he ever does is grumble at me."

"I'm not all that bad am I?" Lee asked as he opened the kitchen doors and snatched the cutlery from Rei's grip. "I'm perfectly friendly to people I _like_."

"_Snappish_" Tala told Lee, frowning.

"Too much Ally McBeal for you, Tala." Bryan told him, as he came inside to lean on the counter.

Lee flashed Tala a wicked smile before turning to Rei. "If you aren't too busy doing managerish things, do you want to come and help me make more sandwiches for lunch? Also, I was thinking about us maybe doing a breakfast menu."

"I'll be with you in a second." Rei told him. "Can you just let me kick myself for a while?"

Lee smirked. "I told you, you were masochistic. Can I pick the psycho or what?" He asked the two Russians as they looked at him confused.

"…Annnd everyone back to work!" Rei said brightly, pushing Lee back into the kitchen. "What was that about a breakfast menu?"

_-o-_

Rei finished helping Lee with the sandwiches and other assorted lunchtime foods in time to receive the delivery he had been called about.

"…" Tala was speechless for possibly the first time in his life.

"…" Bryan could possibly have been speechless but more likely wasn't talking to anyone for whatever reason.

"… I don't think I've ever seen so much coffee in my _life_" Tala said, regaining his voice.

"Gentlemen and… Gentlemen, feast your eyes upon the great coffee bonanza." Rei said proudly.

Tala recovered from his shock and rolled his eyes. "_Please_ tell me that isn't what you're going to call this when we start selling it."

Rei looked indignant. "I'd like to see you come up with better."

"Challenge accepted."

_-o-_

Tala stood at the counter serving a middle-aged woman. "Would you like to try an exotic flavour of coffee from our Great Coffee Bonanza? We've just gotten it in. Beans from all around the world."

Rei stifled a laugh as he turned to serve the next customer. The café was even busier than it had been yesterday, if that were possible, and he had been needed to help serve. "How can I help you?" He asked, smiling at the man in front of him.

The man looked up at the billboard behind Rei, brushing his blue hair out of his eyes to see it clearly. He scanned it for a few seconds before looking back at Rei. "I'll have a cappuccino, thanks."

"Would you like to try an exotic coffee flavour from out new Great Coffee Bonanza?" Rei asked.

The man in front of Rei looked into his eyes. The man's red eyes seemingly searching for a trick or deception of some sort. "…Ok." He said eventually.

Rei smiled. "Great! What flavour would you like?"

The man smirked. "Whatever flavour you think I should have."

* * *

Please tell me what you think


	3. Routine

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Routine

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **And welcome back for another funfun chapter! I'm on a complete sugar high so I apologise in advance if this note gives anyone a headache or if it's completely incomprehensible. I've made a New Year's resolution that I'm going to write at least a page of any given fanfic every day. So far I'm going well but we shall see how that goes down, no? Other resolutions I've made include the ever popular 'Be nice to people' THAT one went down the drain fairly quickly. As did 'use all christmas gifts'. Some have already been relegated to the cupboard. Ain't life grand? Anyways I think that's enough rambling from my corner. Enjoy!

* * *

"Kai!"

Kai looked up from his computer screen, trying to make it look like had hadn't been spacing out for the past half hour. "Hm?"

"Kai!" The person called again before seeing the man he was seeking sitting at his desk. "Oh thank God, you haven't left!"

Kai raised an eyebrow at the other man in front of him. "Why would I have left?" He asked mildly.

"I don't know!" The blonde in front of him said, waving his arms. "Karma?"

Kai smirked in amusement. "Karma? Is that what it is this week?"

Enrique shot Kai a glare. He was famous in the office for having a new craze almost every week. Last week it had been feug shui and he had spent his time rearranging the office to produce the best flow of positive energy, or something similar to that. Kai wasn't up on the details. That said, Enrique had found that his wastepaper basket had been in the 'wealth' section of his cubicle. That explained more than it didn't.

"No. Karma is universal. Not 'this week'. It's the lazy way of getting revenge." The blonde told Kai matter-of-factly. "Now. I need your help."

Kai sighed. "What with?"

"You suck at organising things so they're _readable_"

Kai's face went stony. "I'll assume that there was a hidden compliment in there somewhere."

"No, Kai. There wasn't. For whatever reason, one of our clients have decided to pull out of here and go and find another company to advertise their products. Obviously the words 'Best in Japan' just don't have the same ring as it used to."

Kai tuned out as Enrique continued to ramble. He discreetly glanced at the clock to see how long it would be until he could escape and go to see Rei.

No. To go and have lunch. Seeing Rei was a bonus.

A big bonus.

Actually the whole reason he went to that café every day.

The café had only been open for a week and it had found a regular customer in Kai. Normally whenever something new such as The Gatling opened Kai would go for a couple of days and then somehow or another end up not going back.

Not so anymore.

He didn't know what it was about the Gatling that made him want to go back… actually he did. It all had to do with Rei. He fascinated Kai.

Rei was _different_ from anyone else Kai had had the misfortune to lay eyes upon. For one thing, there was his mere appearance. Even after seeing him many times as he moved, no, _floated_ through the café doing whatever he was doing, Kai still had to remember to breathe. It was something in the way Rei always dressed in white like some sort of angel. Or maybe it was his hair.

Kai had not realised, _quite_, how long Rei's hair was until a few days ago when Rei had turned around quickly and his hair had whipped Kai in the face. It wasn't a bad thing, though. It gave Kai a chance to speak to Rei. One of the few chances he had had.

There was one event that stuck in his mind, though. Whenever he fell back on his new-found activity of contemplating Rei he always came back to the day Rei had served him coffee. Apparently a new selection of coffee had come in; it had been called a really pathetic name that Kai couldn't remember. He hoped that it wasn't Rei who had come up with it but even if he had small imperfections only made him all the more perfect. He was able to rise above his flaws. Anyway, Kai had decided on a whim to see what would happen if Rei were to pick his coffee for him. He was interested to see the results of his experiment.

The results had been outstanding.

It had been the best coffee Kai had ever tasted. How Rei knew that he liked truly bitter coffee was beyond him. But, somehow, Rei had known. He had known how to pick the perfect coffee.

If Enrique hadn't still been blathering on about something to do with the other company's accountant not being able to decipher Kai's work he would have laughed at himself. Matchmaking through coffee choice? It sounded absurd.

It was absurd.

But Kai couldn't help placing at least a little bit of value in it. Maybe it was telling that Rei knew something about him just by looking at him. Maybe it was saying that Rei understood Kai just a little bit more than most people.

Maybe he was starting to sound like Enrique with his wild speculations about fate and destiny. Speaking of Enrique…

"-Kai? Have you listened to a word I've said?"

"No." Kai figured that honesty was the best policy when it came to Enrique. That, and it was funny to watch the blonde get angry.

"KAI!"

"Yes?"

"I don't think you've quite got a grasp on how important this is. If we get a reputation for not having _legible_ accounts people are going to stop coming here."

"What I do _is_ legible. It's printed off a computer. It's in a format that _I_ understand. What's the problem? I'm the only person who sees it anyway."

"That's the point! We're not going to be paid for the work we've done already if the other company's accountant can't figure out what you've recorded!"

"Let him figure it out on his own then. It's what he's paid to do."

"No, Kai. That's what _you're_ paid to do." Johnny told him, walking up behind Enrique and glowering down at Kai. "I expect it to be done."

Kai debated whether death glaring at Johnny was a wise move. He decided against it when Johnny's eyes took on a superior glint. That only meant one thing.

Kai's life was about to go from _hell_ to _uber-hell_.

Kai nodded grudging consent to the task Enrique had been trying to get him to do. Here came the news Johnny had been _dying_ to impart.

"Oh!" Johnny said nonchalantly like it had only just occurred to him. "By the way! On Monday we're getting a new trainee accountant. He'll be _your_ responsibility."

And there it was. Kai struggled not to stand up and start using his chair as a hammer to Johnny's nail.

"W-what?" He asked, cringing inwardly at how pathetic he sounded.

"Exactly what I meant. This office needs a new accountant, it's too much work for you." Kai noted how Johnny pointedly left out the 'alone' part of that sentence. "So we're getting a new one in."

_By new one you mean a replacement for me when you find a way to fire me, yes?_ Kai asked silently, keeping his face as emotionless as possible. "Ok. What's his name?" He asked cautiously.

Johnny shrugged. "I can't remember. You'll have to ask him when he gets here on _Monday_," He said, placing extra emphasis on that word. Belatedly, Kai realised that it was Friday so this was apparently his last day of freedom.

He nodded, hoping that his gesture was enough to make Johnny saunter away to go and tell other people how important he was.

Thankfully, he was right.

Johnny left, leaving Enrique to lean with one hand on Kai's desk. "What did I tell you?" He asked. "_Karma_. If you even tried to be nice to him you might find that working here is a whole lot easier."

"And suck up to him like certain people I could glare at?" Kai asked snippily as he eyed the box Enrique had lugged over when he had first come to Kai's desk.

Enrique stood up straight abruptly. "If that's the way that you feel about it no wonder Karma's out to get you." He told Kai shortly before walking away and pulling out his mobile phone.

_Probably going to call his spiritual advisor_ Kai thought, rolling his eyes as he hefted the office box Enrique had brought over on to his desk and began to look through it, looking for the faded print that his printer always produced no matter how many times he changed the cartridge.

He found a few scattered pages near the top, then another a few sheets further down into the pile.

_You are kidding me_. Kai thought as he looked at the pile hopelessly. Obviously whoever had been through the box last had forgotten and all principles of neatness and orderliness. It looked like the papers had been taken out of the box, had a game of fifty-two thousand pick-up played with them and then had been shoved back into the box without anyone caring how they went in.

This was going to be a _long_ morning. Kai glanced at the clock. And it was only 9:30. He had been at work for an hour. Life was not being kind.

Before he started on the monster of a task that he had in front of him Kai stood up and made his way to the staff kitchen. He set the kettle to boil and pulled out a cup from the cupboard, checking it carefully, making sure it had been washed properly. Kai was certain that at least half of the staff had rabies or some other sort of deadly jungle virus. He didn't want to risk catching it.

When he was satisfied with the cleanliness of the cup, Kai set it down on the bench with a sigh. He rubbed his eyes as he felt the beginnings of a headache begin to pound behind them and spooned two heaped tablespoons of coffee into his mug.

He had figured out how to plug in the coffee machine at home so it was only here, at work, that he had to resort to drinking the much hated _instant_. Kai opened the small fridge gracing the corner of the room and peered into it, looking for the milk.

He located it between two containers of _something_. Kai reached for the milk bottle without really looking at it and pulled it out. He checked the due date of the milk cursorily and froze in his actions.

The milk was about a month out of date.

When Kai looked down at the actual contents of the bottle he saw that the milk was taking on a distinctly yellow-ish tinge. He quickly put the bottle down and stepped away from it, as if putting some distance between it and himself would change anything.

_People are gross_. Kai decided as he peered cautiously at the bottle, afraid that it would explode. He didn't know what had possessed him to reach for the milk. He _knew_ that the milk was never what could be classed as hygienic. He _knew_ it. And yet he had reached for it anyway.

At the office he always drank black coffee. He'd had too many 'coffee ruined by lumpy milk' episodes to risk trying to have white coffee. But at home, where the milk was guaranteed not to be lumpy, he always had white coffee. So maybe it had been force of habit.

It semi-appalled Kai that he could think of the office as anywhere close to his home so he quickly finished making his coffee, threw away the milk and made his way back to the desk.

He glanced at the clock on his computer. _9:35._

Kai sat down with a sigh and took a sip of the scalding, bitter liquid he had made for himself. _Bring on lunchtime_.

There was no question about where he'd go.

_-o-_

When Kai entered the courtyard in front of the café he had to stop himself from sighing in relief. Whenever he entered into Rei's home ground he felt like the weight of whatever was stressing him was left on the street, ready for him to pick up when he left his sanctuary.

He immediately made his way to the counter of the café and ordered a cappuccino from the red haired server. _Tala_. Kai remembered. On the second day that he had visited, while enjoying the coffee Rei had chosen for him, Kai had dedicated himself to learning the names of the staff. The only member that he hadn't seen, only heard about, was Lee, the chef.

"Would you like to try an exotic bean flavour from our Great Coffee Bonanza?" Tala asked him.

"Yes. I don't know what it's called but the other day I came in here and someone served me coffee that was really bitter." Kai carefully omitted mentioning Rei's name. It sounded too familiar to say out aloud.

Tala thought for a second. "I have no idea which one you're talking about." He said honestly before looking at the selection offered in the 'Bonanza. "How about I use the bitterest flavour we have and see if that was the one you wanted?"

Kai nodded his assent and took the number Tala offered him. _23? Wow. They must be busy today._ He thought absently as he moved to take is usual seat in the café.

He sighed as he sat down and ran his hand through his hair, making it stand up even more crazily than it had been before.

His attention immediately snapped to the door that lead to the kitchen when Rei walked through it.

Kai's memories of the man were nothing compared to the real thing. There was no word that Kai could think of to describe Rei as a whole. No word other than- 'Wow', that is.

Today Rei was wearing his usual white ensemble, the only difference being that he had decided to use a red wrap to wrap up his hair. Kai thought that it gave the outfit just enough dramatic flare without being melodramatic. He loved it.

But then again he loved any and all of the clothes that Rei wore.

Rei said something to Bryan before walking around the counter.

Kai frowned, confused, Rei wasn't holding anything. Why was he coming out on to the main floor?

His question was soon answered as Rei reached the door of the café and turned around to wave, grinning at Tala and Bryan behind the counter. "I'll be back in an hour." He told them before turning around and walking out of the building.

_What? No! Come back!_ Kai thought at Rei, hoping that his thoughts would somehow or another be projected into the other's mind.

They weren't.

Immediately, as Rei left the premises, Kai felt all of the stress and worries of the day hit him hard.

Without Rei in it the Gatling was just like any other café. It didn't have the effect that Kai wanted, no, _needed_ it to have. He needed to have somewhere that he could be and not worry about work or anything related to it.

Apparently, without Rei it wasn't possible.

Kai stood up and left the café, ignoring the fact that he still hadn't received his coffee.

He picked his way through the tables and began his long, arduous journey back to work. Maybe for work he could subscribe to the principle that the sooner he started the sooner he'd finish.

* * *

Please tell me what you think


	4. Party

**Title:** Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Party

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **Hello again! I'm proud to announce that my New Years Resolution of One page a day is going well! We shall see how well it goes when school starts again, yes? I have high hopes though.

This chapter was written while my new writing buddy was watching me. Panda-chan the Panda plushie. My friend gave her to me as a late Christmas present and she has been my constant companion ever since. She's very soft and pattable. I love her to pieces.

This chapter is dedicated to **wolf-of-the-moonlight** who is abandoning me to go and live in a city that's a whole _six hours_ away. Yet, I still love her to pieces.

And that's enough rambling from me and the team! Enjoy!

-Panda, Panda-chan and Brick

* * *

_Two Months Later_

Rei sat up as soon as he felt consciousness begin to invade his body. He blinked, trying to get rid of the instant headache that began to throb behind his eyes.

He quickly glanced at his clock. _Yes! Five minutes before the alarm!_ He celebrated silently before his body actually realised what time it was.

It didn't take his body long to catch up with his head and Rei felt his limbs become heavy and slow. He flopped back down on to the bed, struggling to keep his eyes open._ No. Must stay awake._ He chanted to himself as he urged his protesting body to roll off his bed and on to the waiting pillows. He refused to be late today.

Lee, his tormentor, had sadistically been teasing him relentlessly about always being late. _Especially_ since he had been constantly late for the past two months.

If Rei had realised just _how_ early he would have to get up in order to run the Gatling he swore he would have let the cobwebs eat the little building. This was just cruel. It was a _Saturday_. It was hard enough waking up at an ungodly time on _weekdays_.

He crawled out of his pillowed haven and began to make his way to the bathroom.

_It's a _Saturday_. I'm meant to be sleeping in! Not struggling to stay alert because of some stupid bet._

Lee had started up a competition between Tala, Bryan and himself to see who could guess exactly how late Rei would be today. What they didn't know was that Rei had heard them while they were 'secretly' placing money on various times. He was rather disgruntled to find out that the smallest time was Bryan's. And he had said half an hour.

Obviously they didn't have too much faith in their beloved employer.

Rei always felt guilty when he came into the courtyard of the café, still damp and miserable from his too short morning shower to be greeted by three faces looking at him expectantly.

He had offered to cut them all keys but Lee had refused them, saying that Rei just had to be on time so they wouldn't freeze their arses off in the morning chill.

_Sadistic bastard_ Rei thought as he crawled into the shower and reached up to blast himself with a freezing cold jet of water.

Rei yelped and quickly turned on the hot tap as well, crawling out of the stream of ice and into the furthest corner of the shower as the water began to heat up.

_Why do I do this to myself?_ He asked himself plaintively as he checked the water with one hand until he was satisfied that he could get underneath it without becoming a Rei-sized ice block.

He sighed and leant his head against the wall of the shower, letting the hot water massage his throat. _Maybe Lee's right_ He thought reluctantly.

_Ugh! I never want to hear those words in my head ever again_._ That's just wrong._

_-o-_

Rei walked into the courtyard of the café with a small smile of triumph on his lips. He may not be able to see straight because he was so tired _but_ he was five minutes early.

He unlocked the doors of the building and sat down at on of the tables inside, waiting for the others to arrive so he could gloat.

He leant as far forward on the table as he could and rested his head on his arms, staring at the clock on the wall. _I'm going to kill them all if they're late,_ he decided and closed his eyes, finding that if he kept them closed they didn't burn too much. _Hypocrites_.

Rei was woken up by Lee poking him in the ribs. "Wake up. Your tormentor is here. You don't was to miss out on the fun of me laughing at you, do you?"

"Mrgh." Rei replied, blinking as he looked up at Lee with his eyes half lidded. "When did you get here?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

Lee considered the question. "A few hours ago, give or take."

Rei blinked. "What? You're not serious are you?"

"I'm very serious. We decided that since you were asleep it didn't really count as you being here at work. So you're a grand total of…" Lee looked back around at the clock, "Two hours late." He raised his voice at that last sentence and looked over at Tala and Bryan triumphantly.

Both Russians groaned and began digging trough their wallets to find the money they owed Lee.

The suddenly moneyed-up man looked over at Rei and winked at him. "I wouldn't let either of them come near you until two hours were up. You just helped me earn enough for a new… something…" He stopped to consider it for a second. "What should I buy?" he questioned.

"A life might be a good start." Rei told him grumpily as he stood up unsteadily. That comment earned him a whap upside the head.

Rei grimaced and rubbed his head. "I only speak the truth."

"Speak it where I can't hear you."

"Fine. Leave the room."

Lee glared at Rei, trying and failing to come up with a comeback. He blew out a frustrated breath of air and huffed. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you!" Before flouncing into the kitchen.

Rei grinned and leant on the table he had been sleeping on. Lee would probably go into a marathon of cooking. It seemed to be the way that he coped with most things.

A lone person clapping brought Rei's attention back to Tala. He glared at the redhead before sitting down on the chair again and sighing. "I really need to work on this sleeping pattern thing." He told the general population of the restaurant.

"I don't know. You looked very cute sleeping over there." An unknown woman's voice chimed in.

Rei looked up in shock when he realised that they weren't alone in the café. He turned to Tala and Bryan. "You let me sleep while _people_ were here?" He asked disbelievingly.

Bryan shrugged. "We just told them you'd had a hard night."

"After mentioning, of course, that you were the person who ran this joint." Tala continued for Bryan, grinning.

"GAH!" Rei said, throwing his arms up into the air and walking into the kitchen.

"I knew you'd be back." Lee said offhandedly as he glared at a pan as it began to heat up, willing it to heat up faster. "You can't get enough of me can you?"

Rei made a frustrated noise and retreated through the kitchen to his small office. It was his only hideaway from the insanity that surrounded his life.

His office was trashed. Rei had managed to cleave a pile through the random boxes that ended up at the chair that sat in front of his desk. Rei sat on the chair and sighed, leaning his elbows on the desk and burying his head in his hands.

_Bad day._ He decided. _Bad. Day._

Rei noticed a small pile of paper on his desk and frowned at them, trying to read upside down. Deciding that his Japanese wasn't _quite_ that good yet he sighed and spun the page around, recognising the printouts as the takings of the week from the cash registers. He would have to put that in the computer at some point. But not yet.

Rei grinned as he heard Lee begin to sing a song to himself in his native tongue. It was possible that the song was meant to be sung in a constant Z double flat. Rei doubted it though.

Still, he continued to smile as Lee sang the song tunelessly. It was weird how he had ended up hiring a fellow Chinese man in Japan. That, and that he had managed to hire two Russians. Of all the nationalities that resided in Japan, Rei would have thought that at least one of his staff would have been Japanese.

Apparently not.

Not that Rei was complaining. Far from it. He couldn't have found a group of people more suited to each other and to their job if he had trawled through the best restaurants and cafés in the world.

Sure, they were all insane and had a scary affinity for teasing their boss, but Rei could deal with that.

What he couldn't deal with, however, was the pounding headache that began to attack his skull. He bent down to look in on of his desks drawers until he found a packet of painkillers. He popped a tablet out of the packet and popped in into his mouth, dry-swallowing it.

Rei made a face at the bitter taste but sighed and continued to rest his head in his hands until the pounding began to subside.

"Rei?" He heard Lee call from the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"Tala just came in here complaining about how busy it is. I think that means that you have to stop moping around in there, doing nothing and go and be nice and smiling to the public."

Rei walked to the door of his office and poked his head out of it. "What made you think I wasn't doing something _extremely_ important?"

Lee turned around to look at him seriously. "Since when do you do _anything_ important in that stuffy room? You go there to mope and to feel sorry for yourself."

"Hey! I don't mope!" Rei said defensively, stepping out of his office and closing the door behind him.

"But you _do_ feel sorry for yourself." Lee said flatly before turning around to flip a pancake. "Now go and help Tala and Bryan. The breakfast menu closes in another hour. _Then_ you can feel sorry for yourself."

Rei frowned at the chef's back before beginning to make his way out to the main body of the café. Anyone would think that Lee was the one who was meant to be giving the orders. Rei sighed in frustration, missing Lee's 'I wish I knew why' as he walked out to join Tala and Bryan.

"What are you doing out here?" Bryan asked as he leant on the counter, idly toying with a pen.

Rei frowned. "Lee just sent me. He said that you two needed help."

Tala gestured to the café, which only had a few patrons. "Does it _look_ like we need help? Everyone's too busy either getting over Friday night parties or preparing for Saturday night ones to come here and have breakfast." Tala grinned and reached for the cup of coffee he had poured himself earlier. "That's where I'd be anyway if I wasn't in _your_ fine company."

'What about mine?" Bryan asked as he continued to play with the pen, staring at it bleakly like it was the last pen on Earth and he had to keep it moving or it would disappear in a poof of smoke.

"You _know_ I love your company, Bry." Tala told him, taking another sip of his coffee. "But I'm not trying to flatter you. Now keep playing with that sorry pen while I try to get an advance in my pay." He looked at Rei, hopefully. "What do you say?" He asked.

"Hm." Rei replied thoughtfully. "I'll have to think about it." He paused for a few seconds before clicking his fingers and exclaiming. "Wait! I have it!"

Tala leant toward Rei, nodding hopefully.

"-No!" Rei said enthusiastically before allowing his features to return to their normal expression. "I need to get some coffee."

"But Reeeeei." Tala complained. "I need the money!"

"Why? It's the second month this café's been open. I can't _afford_ to pay you in advance."

"I need to go partying tonight!"

Rei almost fell over. "_That's _your reason."

Tala nodded earnestly. "My entire reputation depends on me going out tonight." He said seriously before turning around and beginning to make Rei's coffee.

"I guess your reputation's shot then." Rei told him seriously, folding his arms. "Why don't you spend your night doing something more interesting than getting drunk and rubbing yourself up against a bunch of strangers?"

Tala poured Rei his coffee and turned to the Chinese man, handing him the mug. "I resent that!" He said indignantly. Tala briefly looked at Bryan who was serving someone at the counter. "I don't rub myself up against strangers!"

"But you do get drunk." Rei observed.

"Obviously. It's a lot more fun than it sounds. You should try that fun thing sometime. It could be good for you."

Rei took a sip of his coffee and grimaced before setting it down and adding a lot of sugar to it. He sipped it again and nodded in satisfaction to himself. "Fun is too new-fangled." He said seriously. "I'd much rather stay at home and learn to play bridge with my small army of cats."

Tala gasped in shock and horror. "That's it! Rei, I'm stopping you from your premature demise into a male old cat lady right now! You, my dear Rei, are coming clubbing with your benevolent instructors of fun, otherwise known as the Gods of all things good, the almighty Tala and Bryan." Tala said, gesturing expansively toward himself and the lavender haired man beside him.

Rei snorted in laughter. "Bryan? Fun? He'd probably glare at it until it ran away screaming for its mother."

"He's also standing right behind you with a cup of extremely hot coffee ready to pour it on you at Red's command" Bryan said tartly.

Rei rolled his eyes before he caught sight of Tala's face, smirking at him calculatingly.

"Whatever you're thinking. Stop now." Rei said nervously.

That only made Tala's smirk become wider. "I think it's high time for an opening party." He told Rei seriously.

Rei blinked. "What? What do you mean by that?"

Tala grinned and set his coffee mug down on the bench before draping his arm around Rei's shoulders in a gesture of conspiracy-laden comradery "We never got to celebrate the birthday of this wondrous place." He gestured expansively at the interior of the café. "I think it's high time we did."

Rei blinked again, still trying to comprehend what the hell Tala was going on about. Sometimes he swore that the redhead was quite a lot of beans short of a burrito.

"What do you think Bryan?" Tala asked the other.

For his part, Bryan gave a non-committal shrug. "I would pay to see Rei trying to have any type of fun."

Rei turned his head to glare at Bryan but couldn't say anything because Tala had begun speaking again. Rei tuned out of the redhead's spiel. _I'm going to kill Lee. He probably knew that something like this would happen._ Rei settled for devising new and inventive ways he could kill his chef while Tala finished babbling.

"Are you done?" He cut in, having decided that a steamroller driven by a maniacal axe-murdering clown would be a fitting way for the evil one to die. "I don't have any clothes to go out partying. You've seen the extent of my wardrobe. It's not huge."

Tala smirked, "Easily fixed, my friend. _Easily_ fixed"

"What's easily fixed?" Lee asked as he came out of the kitchen, balancing a plate of pancakes in his hands. "Last time I checked it wasn't _my_ job to serve people." He glared pointedly at Tala and Bryan. The former of who stuck his tongue out at Lee childishly.

Lee gave the plate to Bryan. "Number 11." He said briefly before turning to Rei and Tala. "What have I missed?"

"We're having a party!" Tala said enthusiastically.

"Tala wants a party." Rei said at the same time wearily.

Lee blinked. "A party as in…?" He ventured.

"We're taking Rei to a night club and showing him how fun it is to get drunk and rub yourself up against a total stranger." Tala told him with a straight face.

One of Lee's eyebrows rose. "_Really?_" He asked, looking at Rei in a new light.

Tala nodded. "Uh-huh. He tried to get out of it by claiming no clothes so I'm taking him shopping!"

Lee's second eyebrow rose to join the first. "I think I should take him shopping."

Rei blinked. Now _everyone_ was against him? Today had to be some sort of 'pick on Rei' day. "How about no one take me shopping?" He ventured.

"Shut up Rei." Lee told him curtly. "We're deciding your demise. You don't have any say in it."

Rei pouted. "Control freak."

"God has to be." Lee told him frankly. "You don't think the world was created by itself do you?"

Rei rolled his eyes. "Whatever you think."

"Blasphemer."

Tala clapped his hands. "Spiritual debate aside, what the hell do you mean by you're taking Rei shopping? I came up with this idea- I get first dibs on Rei's outfit!"

"Hell no!" Lee told him, laughing. "I've seen the poor excuses for outfits you wear to clubs. One day you're going to be arrested for indecent exposure"

Tala winked. "But until then I'm going to make everyone ogle."

Lee pointed to a table of girls who were talking amongst each other and occasionally glancing at his boss. "I don't think Rei needs help in _that_ department."

Rei blushed and waved nervously at the table. This sent the girls into fits of giggles as they waved back. "Are you _really_ going to make me do this?"

"Yes." Tala and Lee replied unanimously.

"Great." He said unenthusiastically. "I have to go and do some work." He looked at the three men around him. "So do all of you."

Lee saluted. "What ever you say. We're going shopping on Wednesday." He told Rei as he herded him back through the kitchen doors.

"What Lee _means_ to say is that _we'll_ be going shopping on Wednesday." Tala called after them.

Kai sat in his regular chair and drank his regular coffee, relishing in both the taste and in the news that he had just overheard. _Wednesday? Interesting._

* * *

Please Tell me what you think


	5. Distractions

**Title:** Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Distractions

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note:** And hello once again from the update Crew/Update crew dutifully waves/

I had family come to stay at my place so my big excuse to leave them was - "I have to do my page!" Leaving them blinking and thinking that I was more insane than them. (_Very _not true)

And so I spent a lot of my time hiding and typing. Resulting in my longest chapter yet! In this fic anyways.

Have I mentioned before how much I love reviewers? No? Let me reiterate then. I LOVE REVIEWERS THEY ARE ALL AWESOMELY AWESOME TO THE BIGGEST DEGREE EVER.

Ahem.

And on with the story!

- Lots of love, Panda, Panda-chan and Brick

* * *

Kai glared at his pen as he tapped it against his notepad. It had decided that today would be one of those days where it wouldn't work just to spite him. It was one of the few days he needed it to work and the pen just wasn't there for him.

He glared at it again, willing the ink to run as he scribbled on his page. It didn't. Kai could have sworn the pen was laughing at him.

A pen appeared into his view as someone handed one to him over his shoulder.

Kai turned to glare at the trainee Johnny had made him work with for the past two months.

'Need a pen?' the annoying one asked, shaking the pen he was holding out to emphasise his point. He smiled at Kai encouragingly.

Kai growled under his breath before snatching the pen from Brooklyn's grasp and turning back around to the table he was sitting at.

"Are you alright there, Kai?" Enrique asked, twirling his pen around between his fingers.

"Fine." Kai grunted. "My pen ran out."

Enrique nodded in satisfaction before turning back to the people they were supposed to be meeting with to figure out strategies to advertise their product. He shot them a friendly smile. "Kai's not that much of a people person." He explained light heartedly. He watched as Kai quietly snapped the non-working pen in two. "…Or, evidently, a pen person."

Their two potential clients laughed at Kai's expense. "That's fine." The male of the two said. "Dealing with numbers all day would make _me_ grumpy too."

The blonde woman who sat next to him cuffed him over the head. "That shows how little you know about numbers." She told him.

"What more do I need to understand other than they're boring?" He asked her, grinning.

She rolled her eyes and got back on task. "So, how viable do you think our product is?"

Enrique quickly looked down at his notes to refresh his memory on what exactly their product _was_. "Well, Mrs Tate-"

"_Ms_" She corrected him.

"Ms Tate, I don't know. Certainly we can advertise it but it depends on the public about whether it'll be a success or not. I have complete confidence in this product, however."

Kai suppressed a snort of laughter. The people in front of him were obviously insane. Who the hell would come up with the idea of customisable spinning tops and expect them to sell? Luckily, he was just the humble accountant.

He had been called in to do a complete and detailed analysis of their company's financial statements.

They were nothing special. They had only managed to get so far with their own self-advertising and somehow or another had the crazy idea to go national. Kai had a feeling that it was the female of the pair's idea to do this. The male didn't seem ambitious enough. He looked like he would be comfortable having a small shop somewhere without the fickleness of the world in general.

_Don't we all?_ Kai mentally empathised as he once again looked through the figures he was supposed to be presenting. Enrique had decided, in his infinite wisdom, to invite Kai to this meeting to do his 'boring stuff' as the blonde so flatteringly called it.

Kai couldn't deny that it was a whole lot more interesting than what he would normally be doing. It also had another advantage.

It gave him time when he didn't have to speak to the evil spawn. Otherwise known as _Brooklyn_.

He could still remember with perfect clarity the day that Johnny had introduced Brooklyn to him. It had begun an even more nightmarish chapter to his nightmare of a life.

He could remember the relief when he had gone on lunch, first making sure to give Brooklyn a pile of paper to sort through. When he had handed the paper over to the trainee he had watched in glee as Brooklyn's normally serene face had turned to one of surprise. He had discovered an all-important fact.

Paper had _weight_.

Apart from that, that day had been uneventful. Except for one random detail.

Rei had worn his hair in a blue wrap.

He had never done that before and never had again since that day. Kai was extremely grateful for that. It wasn't that Rei hadn't looked good in the wrap, far from it. Rei could wear _anything_ and still look 'wow' worthy. Kai just preferred him in white.

The pure colour suited Rei. Plus there was the fact that Rei miraculously avoided any type of dirt or potentially staining object whenever he wore it. Meaning, of course, that he was forced to become just _that_ much more agile whenever he was actually working _in_ the café.

And that, Kai didn't mind at all.

"Kai?" Enrique asked, gesturing to the books in front of him. "Care to show us what you mean by there might be a problem with the funds?"

"I didn't say might. I said _will be_." Kai told the room.

"How so?" Ms Tate asked, sitting forward in her seat with a frown. "I did all of the figures myself."

"Then you did them _wrong_."

The blonde narrowed her eyes at Kai. "Care to explain, young man?"

"To put it simply. You don't have enough money to even think about advertising anything. Let alone using an advertising firm like this one which will cost you thousands more."

She sat back in her chair and waved her hand dismissively. "We discussed all of this with your _other_ accountant." She told him, looking pointedly at Brooklyn.

"_Our other accountant who still isn't an accountant._" Kai ground out, forcing himself not to turn around and throttle the ginger haired man behind him.

He _knew_ he shouldn't have started to cut down on his coffee intake.

He had only done so because the new bane of his life, Brooklyn, had some sort of _dislike_ for the taste of coffee or similar. On his first day he had commented how he could almost smell the sweat of slave labour coming off the beans or similar.

Normally Kai would have ignored him. A lot.

But Brooklyn refused to be anywhere near him whenever he had his beloved coffee with him. And _that_ made Johnny angry.

And an angry Johnny meant a fired Kai.

And Kai didn't want to be fired.

He may have detested being anywhere near Johnny. He _definitely_ detested being anywhere near Brooklyn and his coffee-nazi streak. But he was already living in a hovel. A very nice hovel, as hovels go, mind you. But Kai didn't want to downgrade.

"He _may_ not be an accountant yet but _he_ figured out a way for us to do this." The woman, who Kai had decided was obviously the ex-wife of Satan's sidekick Balthazar, folded her arms. "Would you like to show him, Brooklyn, dear?" She asked.

Kai controlled his breathing. It was possibly the only thing he could do to keep himself from killing Brooklyn in a very painful as yet unthought of way.

Kai would _relish_ dancing on the evil-orange-haired-rat's grave.

"Thank you, Ms. Tate. But-" Brooklyn told her, smiling the dreamy smile that Kai had come to despise.

"Dear, I told you to call me Judy." She said reproachfully, interrupting him.

"- I only used one of Kai's ideas that he used for a previous client. None of the work was actually mine. I guess I forgot to tell him about it." He shrugged. "My mistake. I was trying to save him some time." Brooklyn sighed and slumped in his seat. He hadn't meant to embarrass Kai like that.

"The things I told them about are at the bottom of the pile that you've got." Brooklyn told Kai, quietly so no one else could hear him

Kai nodded curtly and searched for the papers Brooklyn had told him about. He was going to kill him. Kai was going to _murder_ Brooklyn. And he was going to enjoy it.

He scanned the documents Brooklyn had brought to light and nodded grudgingly. "It could work."

_-o-_

When they stepped out of the meeting Brooklyn immediately turned to Kai. "I am _so_ sorry." He said sincerely.

Kai glared at Brooklyn. "You're _sorry_? Oh I'm so glad! Everything's fixed now, isn't it? Now that you're sorry everything's going to be just fine!" He said sarcastically.

Brooklyn looked hurt for a second before shrugging it off. "Ok. I probably deserved that-"

"There was _no_ probably about it." Kai growled as he made his way to his desk, thoughts of zoo escapee leopards mauling the man he was supposed to be training entertaining him.

"Ok. So I definitely deserved that." Brooklyn said, humbly. He had only been working with Kai for two months and he _still_ couldn't find a way to stop the Russian from blatantly hating him. "I didn't mean to do that. Johnny asked me to look after them one time when you were on lunch and I did. I just forgot to give you the paperwork on what we talked about."

"Whatever." Kai said angrily. He glared at his computer for a second before noticing the time. "I'm going to lunch." He told Brooklyn. "If Johnny _happens_ to find you someone to talk to, _don't_. I don't care what you do otherwise."

Kai growled in frustration and stalked out of the office.

Enrique whistled "Congratulations on surviving the Kai and not crying" He said, walking over to Brooklyn and perching on his desk.

Brooklyn grinned. "He's made people cry?" He asked, looking up at the blonde.

"Of course! He once made a new secretary burst into hysterics. It was funny at the time. I can't even remember his name- Ty-something? He left the next week. That was an age ago, though"

Brooklyn raised an eyebrow. "So he's always been like that?"

Enrique gave a short bark of laughter. "Yeah. As far as I know. My hypnotherapist would have a ball trying to help him." He paused and looked down at Brooklyn. "Why?"

Brooklyn shrugged. "I don't know. It's just like he's been getting more and more distracted by something. I mean, I'm sure I told him about the Tate's case."

Enrique shrugged. "He's just weird. What more can you say?"

Brooklyn sighed and nodded. Enrique was probably right. Maybe Kai was just one of those naturally weird people.

_Maybe_.

_-o-_

Kai quickly walked the path that he could now walk in his sleep and stepped into the courtyard of Rei's café.

Immediately he felt the calm aura settle around him that he had come to recognise as Rei's presence and, sure enough, Kai could make out the ebony-haired man out as serving at the registers.

Kai closed his eyes, imprinting the image of Rei leaning on the counter and talking to a customer on his mind. He had found that calling to mind an image of Rei helped produce a fraction of the effect that Rei in real life had.

Rei's image had possibly saved Brooklyn's life a number of times.

Kai smiled softly to himself before making his way through the doors of the café and moving to join the queue in front of Rei.

Kai's stomach did a flop at the thought of being able to talk to Rei again. It was quite common for Rei to be helping at the front but so far Kai had only been served seven times by Rei.

Kai watched as Rei looked across at the café's most silent team member and beckoned for him to come over. Bryan complied and listened as Rei spoke quickly and quietly to him.

Bryan nodded and smirked. "What? Are you going to go and beg Lee again?" He asked loud enough for Kai to hear.

"No!" Rei said indignantly before making his way to the kitchen doors.

"I hear that he's got his heart set on getting you into black hotpants." Bryan called out to him, making Rei blush crimson.

"I will _kill_ him first." Rei vowed before disappearing into the kitchen.

Kai smirked. Rei in _hotpants_? There would be a sight for sore eyes. He was still busy deciding _exactly_ which angle would be the best vantage point when it was his turn at the counter. For the record, Kai had decided that _all_ angles with Rei in hotpants were equally drool-worthy.

"What would you like?" Bryan asked, looking at Kai disdainfully.

Kai's eyes narrowed, remembering his observations of the first day when he had decided that Bryan obviously wasn't a 'people person'

"Well?"

"The bitterest coffee you have." Kai ground out, Bryan had served him less times than Rei- generally Kai avoided the silent man. For both of their sakes.

Bryan raised an eyebrow. "Care to name it?" He asked. "I haven't tried all of the coffee's we have so you might have to be a bit more elaborate."

Kai glared at Bryan, _every_ time Bryan served him they went through this song and dance.

"Isn't it your _job_ to know which flavour would be the bitterest?" He asked.

"I obviously missed that in my job description."

"Section two, Paragraph A." Tala chirped cheerfully, handing Kai his coffee. "For future reference, it's the one from the country that no one can pronounce." He winked at Bryan and went back to serving his line.

Kai smirked at Bryan and raised his cup. "Pleasure doing business with you." _Arsehole._

Kai sat at his usual table and sipped his coffee, both hating and loving the bitter taste. He watched the kitchen door intently. Waiting to see if Rei would come out of it.

He was in luck.

Rei pushed his way through the doors, pouting. "He won't budge. We're going shopping." He said sulkily.

"Of course you are, my sweet." Tala said pinching Rei's cheek. "I can't believe Grumpy stole my opportunity to completely humiliate you!" He complained. "Did you know that he's completely banned me from going? He's got this strange idea that I'm going to dress you in one of those pairs of pants with the seat missing!" He threw up his hand dramatically. "Tch! It's not like they even sell those. You have to _make_ them."

Rei raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Thank you, Tala. I needed to know that."

"Doesn't everyone?" Tala asked matter-of-factly before going back to the counter to rescue Bryan from an irate thirty-something.

Rei rolled his eyes and looked up to the heavens. "Why God? Why did I have to wake up today?" He asked plaintively.

"Because you were just dying to go for a walk and place a new order for bread in at the bakery." Lee told him cheerfully, putting a long list into Rei's hand.

Rei stared at it. "And the phone became obsolete because-?"

Lee rolled his eyes. "Last time I used the phone the person who answered obviously had a hearing problem of some sort. She stuffed up my order almightily. Haven't you noticed how weird the sandwiches look lately?"

Rei blinked. "Uh… no."

Lee sighed. "It is _so_ lucky that you're not the manager… oh wait…"

Rei hit his fellow Chinese man, laughing. "You're evil."

"I aim to please. Now go do that? Please?"

Rei nodded. "Ok. But only because you asked nicely."

Lee grinned thankfully before slipping back into the kitchen. "I owe you one!"

"Can I use that one to stop you from taking me shopping?" Rei asked hopefully.

"I don't owe you _that_ much."

Rei sighed and resigned himself to his shopping-filled fate. He looked at the list. "Tala? I'm going out for a while."

The redhead nodded and continued to serve a customer without pausing.

Rei looked once again at the list and began to walk to the door, not noticing the pair of eyes on him.

A cold fear gripped Kai's heart. Rei couldn't leave. He needed to feel his calming influence. He couldn't deal with the rest of the day otherwise. He glanced at his watch; he still had fifteen minutes of his lunch break left. Rei couldn't leave him now. Not _yet_.

Making a snap decision, Kai quickly drank the rest of his coffee and stood up. If he couldn't get whatever influence Rei had on him in the café he would have to do some work. He had to _earn_ the calm feeling Rei gave him.

So, leaving the empty coffee cup on the table, Kai hurried to follow Rei, trying to stay close enough to him so he could feel the calming effect Rei had on him. It was hard enough leaving the calm when he needed to go back to work. He couldn't leave it when he didn't need to.

_Not yet. Not yet._

* * *

Thanks to _Braeca_ for her idea of ReiRei in hotpants

Thanks to _she-devil-16_for the idea of Bry serving Rei.

Please tell me what you think.


	6. Hell on Earth

**Title:** Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Hell on Earth

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **Annnd here we are back for another chapter! Did you miss me? Maybe? Anyways I'm now thoroughly depressed because on Monday I have to go back to the evil domain known commonly as 'school' Not cool.

On the bright side I am five episodes away from having watched all of the first season of beyblades. Have such gems to use at school such as 'Hey Mum! I believe in myself! How super-cool is that?' That may have been a slight misquote but you get the picture. I LOVE it, it is wow.

Both Panda-chan and Brick have been watching it too- though they didn't have much to say about it… (Yes, the fact that I'm waiting for comments from my computer and plushie is frightening me. Maybe going back into civilisation isn't such a bad idea…)

Thanks to Lainy Wolf for staring at the last few pages of this chapter with me until we figured out what was wrong with it (I still haven't figured out what was wrong with it but rewriting it seemed to do the trick)

Ah well! And thanks for listening to me rant… again…

-Panda, Panda-chan and Brick.

* * *

"Leeeeeee" Rei whined as they walked through the doors of the mall. "Can we just _not_ do this?" He asked. "It's not like anyone would ever know. I promise I won't tell Tala that we never went shopping."

"It's not going to work Rei." Lee told him flatly. He had been enduring similar pleas from Rei since he had dragged him out of the café after it had closed and shoved him in the car.

Thankfully, he had the foresight to put child lock on the door on Rei's side or he would have had even more difficulties. He had already he to pull Rei back inside the car after he tried to escape through the window. Twice.

"Why not?"

"Because it just isn't. Do you really think I'm going to give up an opportunity to see you be completely embarrassed? No way in hell! Why do you think I snatched this rare and beautiful opportunity from Tala's claws?"

"Because you like to see me in pain?"

"_Exactly_." Lee smirked and walked a few steps forward before turning back to Rei and spreading his arms. "Just think, you could have been going shopping with _Tala_."

Rei suppressed a shudder at that thought. He didn't even want to entertain that possibility. That was just _wrong_.

"My thoughts exactly. At least this way you can go shopping with someone who has an IQ above that of an eight year old."

"Lee!" Rei exclaimed, shocked and indignant on Tala's behalf.

"You're right… That too generous isn't it? Tala's mental age can't be a day over three."

"I'm so glad that we've had this little talk. Now can I go home?" Rei asked, one of his feet already edging toward the door.

"Nuh-uh. No way. No how." Lee told him firmly, quickly stepping toward Rei and gripping him above his elbow. "You may as well deal with it. You're going shopping however you look at it. Either you and I can walk beside each other and go shopping like nice friendly _adults_ OR I could frogmarch you the entire way. It really is your choice."

Rei thought for a moment before shaking Lee's arm off his own and straightening his clothes, glaring the entire time at Lee.

"I'll take that as an 'I'll be good Lee because I know that I'm not going to win this one… or any one now that I think about it'."

Rei hesitated for a moment before nodding curtly, his glare never wavering.

"That's my boy!" Lee said smirking.

Rei grumbled as Lee began to walk into the nearest door. "If you keep on grumbling like that I really _will_ buy you hot pants." Lee called from inside the shop.

Rei blushed as people looked around to see whom that comment was directed at. "I hate you." He told Lee when he joined him in the shop.

"You're so cute when you're angry."

"Not as cute as _you'll_ be."

"What?"

Rei inwardly cursed. _What sort of comeback was that? You're losing your touch, Rei, you really are._

"Glad to see we have that sorted then!" Lee told Rei, grinning predatorily. Rei _really_ didn't like that look. "Now, come and have a look at this pair of pants."

Lee led Rei to near the back of the store where a mannequin was set up wearing a nondescript shirt and-

"No way in _hell_." Rei stated flatly.

"Now, you see I was _hoping _you'd say that. What size are you?"

Rei told him without thinking, then realised what Lee was intending to do. "No! You are not getting me in those, no way, no how."

"Yes way. And you know how? Because I know your mother's phone number and she has some _lovely_ baby photos of you that I'm _dying _to put up in the café, I think our customers would really appreciate seeing you in diapers and having your first bath."

"I _hate _you."

"You've already said that. Try coming up with a new insult. Now-" he thrust the pants into Rei's hands and thrust him at a changing room, "-go and try them on. And at least _pretend _that you're enjoying yourself. Everyone's looking at us strangely."

Rei shut the door of the changing room and called over top of it. "I'm not the one blackmailing me with baby photos. How did you find out my Mum's number anyway?"

Lee smirked when he heard Rei crash into the side of the small cubicle. "I have my sources."

"Remind me to kill those sources when I get out of here."

"Be my guest. I have all the information I need"

Rei sighed and rolled his eyes before looking at the pants dubiously and unfolding them. "Mary, mother of God." He whispered. Louder, he called to Lee. "I don't think they're big enough."

"They're your size. Just try them on for God's sake! I don't want to argue with a grey door for the rest of my life. It's so much more fun when I can see your face.

Rei sighed and put one leg into the dreaded _pants_. He manoeuvred his leg until he could see his foot at the other side and stuck his other leg in the other hole. He straightened and tried to pull the pants up.

They didn't budge.

Rei jumped and pulled hard on the pants, trying to get them up past knee level.

The moved an inch.

He smirked. _No pair of pants will beat me!_

He continued to use his technique of jump and pull until- "Lee?"

"Mmm?"

"They won't fit over my boxers."

Lee blanched. "You tried to wear _underwear_ with those pants?"

"I wasn't meant to?"

"NO. Now for God's sake hurry up! There's only so long I can stand outside another guy's dressing room without getting suspicious looks from other people."

Rei rolled his eyes as he peeled off the pants and looked around furtively before also taking off his boxers as well. Naked from the waist down he began to pull on the pants again. "Lee. You're a chef in a _café_ of all things. Your reputation is pretty much gone anyway. Get over it."

Lee rolled his eyes and hit he door of the changing room. "Hurry up, will you?"

Rei smirked and saluted, knowing that Lee couldn't see him before using his jump and yank technique to pull up the pants finally and zip them up.

He opened the door and leant against the frame of it, tired from his effort to get the pants on. "What do you think?" He asked Lee, not noticing the flash of a camera from the second storey of the building.

Kai stared in awe at Rei. The black leather pants he was wearing were _tight_. _Tight tight_, Not normal tight. _Tight tight._ They showed off every one of the Chinese man's slightly feminine curves before beginning to flare at the knee. A long, decorative zipper was on his left leg, ending around the middle of Rei's thigh. The leather of the pants had been patched together, giving the pants a rough look that made Kai want to run down to Rei and- he controlled that urge.

"Well?" Rei asked, still leaning on the frame of the changing room's door, not noticing that not only did he have Kai as an audience but had also stopped all female traffic in the area.

Lee blinked. "We're buying it."

"But _Leeee_ they're so _tight_."

"The point exactly. We're buying them."

Rei huffed in annoyance before shutting the door of the room with a bang and proceeding to peel off the pants.

Lee jumped in fright when his phone went off, vibrating in his pants pocket. He picked it up and glanced at the name of the person calling him. He rolled his eyes and hit the accept button putting the phone to his ear. "Tala? Why the hell are you ringing me?"

-Just making sure you and our dahling ReiRei are having fun. Me and Bryan were thinking about coming to join you two. You know, just so we can have true collaboration and all.-

"No. You set a foot in here and I'll remind Rei that it was you that came up with this idea. He's not the happiest person at the moment."

"Damn right I'm not!" Rei yelled over the door as he began pulling his old, blessedly loose pants back on.

-Was that Rei in the background? What did you do to him to get him sounding that cranky?-

"He's not cranky, he's stroppy. I think he's never had a good shopping experience before."

"And the bad streak isn't ending." Rei complained as he walked out of the room and glared at Lee. "Is that Tala?"

Lee nodded the affirmative and Rei held out his hand. "Give. Now." Apparently he had forgotten how to string sentences together. Lee complied and handed the phone over.

"Tala!"

Tala's voice took on a wheedling tone -Yes ReiRei?-

"Don't you yes ReiRei me nothing! Tomorrow I'm going to skin you, then use one of Lee's old knives to take out your liver so I can feed it to an old lady!"

Tala blinked on the other end and looked at Bryan who had begun listening in on their conversation when Tala had put it on speaker phone. "Um… no thank you? Is there any way I can get out of that?"

-Convince this maniac to take me home. Right now.- Tala and Bryan heard scuffling on the other side before they heard Lee's voice.

-No.-

"I haven't even begun to convince you!" Tala protested smirking.

-Good. And, anyway, I know that you won't even begin to try will you? This whole escapade was your idea-

"But I like my skin!"

-So do a lot of people. Sacrifices must be made.-

With that ending note, Lee cut off the conversation by hanging up, leaving both Tala and Bryan blinking down at the phone.

"I can't believe you." Rei told Lee huffily as he was marched into another store. "You know I'm not going to wear those… _things_. You can't make me."

"Baby photos remember? Anyway, you'll have a great time on the night. And those clothes will make it _that_ much better. Who knows? You might find a special someone."

Rei scoffed. "At a _nightclub_? I've heard too many weird stories about weird people at places like that."

"Hey! Not all weird people go to places like that! Think of Tal- no wait, bad example."

Rei smirked. "My point exactly. Anyway, I'll probably get there and just stand on the sidelines; I'm not a nightclub person. I don't _do_ places like that."

Lee grinned as he selected a long, plain, blood red shirt and held it against Rei's chest. "That is why we have to teach you."

Rei sighed. "Last I checked you didn't _do_ places like that either. Remember you once told me you thought they were undignified or something similar."

"Actually, I think I said something more along the lines of uncivilised places of sin." Lee told him smirking. "But you shouldn't believe all you hear."

"Does that mean I shouldn't believe anything you say?"

"I didn't say that, I said that you shouldn't believe everything you _hear_. You should always know that whatever I say is ingrained with wisdom beyond my years." Lee told him before thrusting the shirt he had been pressing against Rei's chest into his arms and pushing him into a changing room. "Like when I tell you that that shirt should look great with the pants of pantliness."

"They have a title?"

"They _deserve_ one. They look great on you."

Rei rolled his eyes as he quickly buttoned up the shirt and stepped out of the dressing room, arms spread so Lee could see the shirt properly. "And you _wonder_ why Tala has decided that you're not as straight as you make out to be."

Lee tutted. "Remember what I said about not believing everything you hear. That can also be interpreted as don't believe _everything_ you hear from Tala. That guy is a few beans short of a burrito. You're going to get a call from a nearby asylum one day asking if you've seen someone matching his description."

Rei sighed. "So what do you think of the shirt?"

Lee appraised it. It was very plain. But that was a good thing- it wasn't there to take away the impact of the pantliness of the pants. Apart from it's deep red colour the shirt's only feature was that it ended in two sharp points at the front, drawing even more attention to the pants. It was perfect.

Rei shifted uncomfortably. "Well? Can we just buy this and leave?"

Lee nodded reluctantly. It looked like Rei's torture session was over. He couldn't think of any sort of accessory that would enhance the look of the outfit, only take away from it. He sighed. "Coffee?" He asked.

Rei smirked. "Don't we get enough of coffee everyday?"

Lee shook his head and sighed. "You can never have too much coffee. Besides, think of this as checking out the competition."

Rei raised an eyebrow. "Why do I get the feeling you're not telling me something?" He asked suspiciously. "Was there some other reason you dragged me on this torture session?"

"Maaaaybbeeee" Lee drawled before walking ahead of Rei towards the coffee shop. Rei sighed and began to follow him.

He noticed out of the corner of his eyes a semi-familiar head of blue hair walking toward him.

_Doesn't he come to the café?_ He wondered absently as he passed the other, their shoulders rubbing against each other.

Rei suppressed an involuntary shudder and hurried to catch up with Lee. _Weird_ he thought as they entered the coffee shop. "Have you ever met someone who just gave you the creeps?" He asked Lee as they took a seat.

The chef thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "Nope, not that I know of. Why?"

Rei thought of the man he had passed briefly before shaking his head and smiling. "No reason. I was just wondering. Now, what did you want to ask me?"

Lee blinked at the subject change before smirking. "What made you think I wanted to ask you something?"

Rei ticked off each point on his fingers. "You saved me from Tala's idea of shopping which would have involved me going to the nightclub in a thong or similar. You paid for my outfit when I _know_ you can't afford it. You're buying me coffee." He paused to consider something. "_And_ you're going to come to a nightclub when I know that you don't like them."

"So are you." Lee defended himself.

"But I don't have a _choice_. Tala will knock me out and chain me to the bar if he has to. He's too afraid to do anything like that to you."

Lee snorted. "Tala? Afraid? That man's never been scared of anything in his life. He probably just accepts that I have a _lot_ of knives and know how to use them. He wouldn't be afraid of them. Just probably doesn't like pain."

Rei shuddered. "Just don't go Hannibal on me, ok?"

Lee nodded and grinned. "Aye aye, cap'n"

Rei sighed as their coffee came and he put as much sugar as possible into his cup. "So? What do you want to ask?"

"Are we back to this again?"

"Yes, we are. Now tell me."

"What if I told you I had nothing to say?" Lee asked, taking a cautious sip of his coffee.

"I'd call you a liar."

Lee smirked. "You wouldn't call me a liar now, would you?"

"I would if you were lying." Rei replied.

Lee raised an eyebrow before grinning. "Never play poker." He told Rei. "At least not at my table."

Rei took another sip of his coffee and grinned. "Point taken. So? What did you want to ask me?" He asked for the third time.

Lee sighed and brought his cup to his lips, giving him some time to think about what he wanted to say to Rei. "It's about my sister." He said eventually, setting his cup back down on the table.

"What about her?" Rei asked carefully. He could tell that it was going to be something favour-like Lee was going to ask him.

"She's been looking for a job lately and…" Lee trailed off to look at Rei hopefully, "I told her I'd ask you if there was room for her at the café."

"Uh…huh" Rei said eventually. He looked down into his cup, thinking of something to say. "Um…"

"It's ok if you can't employ her. I was just hoping that you could, she'd be a big help, don't you think?" Lee asked, playing with his cup.

"…What's her name?" Rei asked, mentally going through all of the figures and documents he had spent his entire day sorting, figuring out if he could actually afford to employ someone else.

"Mariah. She's been looking for work for an age but isn't having that much luck." Lee told Rei.

Rei nodded slowly. "I'd have to think about it but I can't see any problem with it. I've heard that Tala's been interested in coming to help you in the kitchen anyway so he'd probably like it if someone came to take his place."

Lee's eyes widened. "You're going to let that _thing_ in _my_ kitchen?" He asked.

Rei shrugged. "You win some you lose some."

Lee narrowed his eyes. "You just want to torture me with more contact with the red-haired freak don't you?"

Rei shook his head. "No. He actually came to ask me if he could start spending some time in the kitchen."

"…And what did you say?"

"I said I'd have to ask you." Rei told him, taking another sip of his coffee. "I'd have to talk to your sister before hiring her, of course, but it should be ok. Tala will be happy."

"Hmm." Lee grunted. It didn't sound either approving or disapproving.

Rei smirked. "I'm so glad that you like that idea!" He said cheerfully. He mood died when he felt someone watching him. He turned around to scan the crowd but couldn't see anyone. _Stop it, _he scolded himself. _You're just jumpy because you hate being around so many people_.

Lee frowned as Rei turned around but said nothing.

Kai sighed contentedly as he looked down at the camera he had brought with him. He had had a vaguely unsettling feeling in his stomach when he had picked it up before following Rei and Lee shopping but he had squashed it. Now he was glad he had.

Steeling himself for the ordeal of leaving Rei's presence, Kai stood up and began to walk away, directly toward the nearest place he could develop his pictures.

* * *

Please tell me what you think.


	7. The Photograph

**Title:** Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **The Photograph

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **And welcome back for another funfun chapter! Are you excited? I know I am. I couldn't actually tell you why I'm so excited- something in the air maybe… All I can say is that at the moment I am seriously bouncing in my seat.

Before any of you ask, no I have had neither coffee nor sugar. I'm just bouncing. It is weird and strange and FUN!

Ok, and on with the story.

The team has decided to go to sleep while I write this so if you really try you might get a snore from Panda-chan. Brick would probably just continue being his gorgeous brick-like self

* * *

Kai stared at the photograph he had taken of Rei. He hadn't expected it to turn out so well. Not that he had imagined that Rei wasn't photogenic; it's just that he hadn't imagined that the camera would be able to be able to do justice to the Chinese man.

Kai leant on one of the walls outside of the place where he had had his photographs developed and began to look through his pile of photos.

He was suddenly very _very_ glad that he had spent the extra money to buy a high-end camera. Each of the photographs captured a different element of Rei. Kai enjoyed going through his pile again, carefully studying each photograph before taking it off the top of the pile and put it down the bottom.

He had soon selected his favourite one. It was the first one he had taken. Rei was standing in the door of the changing room with the _pants_ on, looking tired and glaring at Lee. And yet still he managed to look unbelievably sexy, in Kai's opinion at least.

Kai put the rest of the photos back in their packet and slipped them into his back pocket. The photo of Rei and his pants stayed in Kai's hand as he began to walk to a shop he knew was on the other side of the shopping centre.

His more rational side kept on telling him that he had done enough for today and that he should just go home. Kai ignored it and continued to walk, quickening his pace. He just had to do one last thing. Then he could go home.

It took all of Kai's willpower to not turn down the hall toward the café Rei and Lee were eating at. Kai knew that they were still there, he didn't know how he knew but he did. It was the same as he knew whether Rei was in the café before he actually stepped inside.

That had only happened to him once. That had _not_ been a good day.

Kai couldn't believe he had had the audacity to walk past Rei, even going so far as to brush past him.

He had seen Rei look at him and felt the Chinese man's gaze on his back as he passed. It gave Kai more confidence as he stepped into a shop filled with photo frames.

_He noticed me. That has to be a good sign._

_-o-_

Kai sighed as he opened the door of his apartment. He had never noticed just how empty it felt. He turned on his coffee maker before taking the packet of photographs and opening them on his kitchen bench.

He spread out the photos and went over each one, studying all of Rei's features in much more depth than he had ever looked at them before.

And still, Kai couldn't point out any one reason why Rei so fascinated him. Kai couldn't see why the Chinese man had such a pull on him. He couldn't see why he could barely go a day without seeing him.

And yet he couldn't.

Kai looked at the pictures he had taken of Rei and sighed. _What are you doing to me?_ He asked mentally before getting up from where he was seated and going to have a shower.

Kai turned on the shower and sighed as he felt the hot water hit his body. _What did I do today?_ He wondered as he turned the cold-water tap down so the water he was being bathed in was almost completely hot.

He sighed as he felt the burning sensation on his stomach. He knew that it wasn't normal to follow someone to a shopping centre and take photos of them and yet he had done it. He had done it and he didn't feel strange for doing it.

He turned around so the water hit the small of his back and leant against the wall at the back of his shower. Kai hit his head on the unyielding wall. _What. Is. Wrong. With. Me?_ He asked himself, emphasising each word by hitting his head.

Kai pushed himself off the wall and turned around again, this time stepping underneath the steaming hot water, hissing as it touched his skin. He deepened his breathing as it became difficult to draw breath because of the steam.

When he had been fully drenched in the scalding water he turned off the taps and stepped out of the shower, enjoying the sensation of being able to breathe comfortably again. He reached out to grab a towel and began to dry himself, gritting his teeth at the pain of the rough towel on his scalded skin.

He knew that it possibly wasn't the best strategy for getting himself to think, but the pain always seemed to give some sort of clarity to Kai's thoughts. Besides, he hadn't done any permanent damage.

Kai wrapped the towel around his waist as he opened the door, smirking as the steam from his shower poured out around him into the otherwise cool room.

He stepped on to the wooden floor of his apartment and made a face at the contrasting temperatures of his skin and the floor. He made his way quickly to his bedroom and put on a pair of boxer shorts. He looked at the discarded towel and glared at it before hanging it up neatly in the bathroom.

Kai walked out of the bathroom and caught sight of the pictures of Rei on the table again. He stopped and looked down on them, his eyes flicking between them. The clarity that the hot water had given him was slowly fading and being replaced by a deep weariness.

Kai looked over the pictures again; his eyes half-lidded and felt a sudden weakness pass through his limbs. He gripped on to the chair for support as he waited for the wave to pass.

This was the one disadvantage to having a steaming hot shower. Kai sighed and glanced over the pictures one last time before stumbling to his room. He knew that it was probably wrong to follow Rei like he did. But he didn't care.

Kai's last thought before unconsciousness invaded his mind was of Rei.

_-o-_

Kai groaned as he began to wake up. He didn't want to wake up. He could tell that today was going to be a _bad_ bad day. He hadn't even opened his eyes yet so he really didn't know why he felt that… except…

_It's Thursday. I hate Thursday_. Kai remembered as he cracked open on eyelid and pushed himself up off the bed until he was sitting on it with his feet on the ground. Thursdays were the days where you could almost smell the freedom of the weekend but knew that you had a whole two days left until you could safely tell the world to screw itself.

Kai didn't like that.

He stood up and staggered to the kitchen to turn on his coffee maker and make himself a cup.

As he began to drink it, relishing in the familiar buzzing sensation the caffeine caused in his limbs Kai strode over to the table and looked down on the pictures of Rei there. He sighed and ran his finger lightly over one of the images.

On a whim, Kai picked up the picture he had been paying attention to and held it up against his wall. Kai tilted his head as he looked at it, admiring the way that the light caught the photo just that much better when it was vertical and not horizontal.

Kai considered his options for a moment before reaching for the nearest glob of Blue Tac to stick the picture to his wall.

_This wall needed something on it anyway_ He rationalised to himself as he finished tacking all of the pictures of Rei he had taken the day before, bar one, to his wall in a Rei collage.

It was about then that Kai realised exactly how late he was. He cursed and ran back into the kitchen, taking one last gulp of his coffee and picking up the bag he was taking to work. Despite his hurry he made sure that he handled the bag gently, it contained something precious to him.

_-o-_

Kai composed himself as he walked out of the elevator and into his office. He tried to look like he hadn't been running full pelt from his apartment to the office. He was succeeding well.

"Kai! Where've you been?" Enrique asked him as he noticed the Russian walk in.

Kai gestured back towards the elevator. "I was just there." He told the blonde.

Enrique sighed and rolled his eyes. "You're irritating sometimes, you know that?" He asked. "Half of my problems are probably caused by you."

Kai rolled his eyes. "You have enough problems of your own without factoring me in." He said curtly before stepping around Enrique to walk to his desk.

Enrique sighed theatrically before deciding that he should probably do some work.

Kai smirked as he heard no comeback. _Gotcha there_. He thought smugly.

"You're late."

"Thanks for pointing that out, Brooklyn, how ever did I get along without you?" Kai asked sarcastically while he sat down and opened up the bag he had carried so lovingly from his apartment.

Brooklyn frowned before shrugging off the insult. He had taken Enrique's word that Kai was always like this and it was nothing against him. "What do you have there?" He asked, trying desperately to find some way to get Kai to talk to him nonetheless.

Kai grunted and carefully took out the picture of Rei he had taken the day before.

It had taken him a long time to select the perfect frame for the picture but eventually Kai had decided on a simple thin silver one. Across the top of the frame was a banner with the slogan 'Love is…' emblazoned on it.

Kai thought that it suited the picture of Rei well, it's simplicity only emphasising the focus of the picture even more. He placed the frame on his desk, making it the first personal object decorating the top of it.

"Who's that?" Kai's pest asked, looking at the person in the picture.

"Rei." Kai answered without thinking about the question or who was asking it.

"Rei?" Brooklyn asked, looking at the picture again.

Kai frowned, wishing that he could swat Brooklyn with an oversized fly swat or similar. _Especially_ if it was a novelty one, just to make the orange haired-man's demise just _that_ much more amusing for him.

"Yes. Rei. Don't you have some sort of work that you need to do?" Kai asked, irritated with himself for telling Brooklyn anything, let alone Rei's name.

"Uh… yeah…" Brooklyn said slowly as he turned around to his computer after looking one last time a Rei's picture.

Brooklyn began to type up a new client's account by looking off a hard copy of the information someone else had collected, his mind going off on a completely different tangent.

_Rei? I never knew that Kai was capable of even _liking_ anyone else let alone loving someone. And the person in that picture looked like a guy…_ Brooklyn looked back at the picture on the pretence of searching for another piece of paper. He blinked when the sheer tightness of the pants gave no doubt as to what sex Rei was. _Shit. Rei is a guy. Does that mean that Kai is gay?_ Brooklyn frowned slightly, feeling a slight queasiness in his stomach at the sheer strangeness of that thought. _So… Kai's gay. New. Different…_ Brooklyn's thought patterns trailed off as he tried to decipher someone's illegible handwriting.

He squinted at the numbers and words until they made some sort of sense and began to type them into his computer again. _I wonder why he's never talked about Rei before?_ He wondered absently before-

"HEY! Kai! Is that a GUY in that picture?"

Kai cringed. It figured that Enrique wouldn't follow the pull of work for too long.

Enrique studied the picture before noticing the inscription on the frame. "Is that your _boyfriend_?" He asked, smirking at Kai.

He had known Kai had been hiding something lately. He'd never have guessed it would be something like a new _boyfriend_. OR that it would be something like the fact that Kai was gay.

Personally, Enrique didn't give a damn about Kai's preferences. He himself had, of late, been feeling a few urges to pull the newest secretary, Oliver, into a nearby janitor's closet. What he _did_ care about was that evidently Kai had been hiding this new and interesting information from him. "Well?" He prompted. Wanting an answer.

Kai stayed silent but his mind was racing a million miles a second. He could tell Enrique that Rei was his boyfriend and be safe in the knowledge that Enrique would have no idea who Rei was and wouldn't be able to disprove him. Or he could tell the truth- or a modified version of it, at least and have to face some interesting questions about why Rei was sitting proudly on his desk.

Why had he bought Rei to work, anyway? Had it just been a whim? Or did it have some other significance? Kai knew that every time he so much as glanced at the picture of Rei he felt a calmness and contentedness wash over him. It felt _right_ to have Rei on the desk at work with him. Kai didn't want to have to go into a complicated reason for Rei's presence. At least he didn't want to go into it with his workmates.

"Kai? Did you hear me?" Enrique asked leaning over the Russian and reaching out a hand to pick up the photo. "Is this your boyfriend? The one you've forsaken me for?"

Kai's eyes narrowed and he swatted Enrique's hand away from the photo. "Yes. Alright? Leave me be."

Enrique grinned and withdrew from Kai's personal space. "As you wish." He told Kai, smirking. He waved offhandedly as he left. "Maybe getting some will sweeten that temper of yours, Kai." He called sweetly over his shoulder, turning around and walking backwards.

Kai glared at the blonde and growled before turning back to his computer and thumping a few keys.

"Apparently not." Enrique said easily, turning around and walking towards Oliver's desk. He couldn't let Kai have _all_ the fun.

Kai sighed and shut his eyes before opening them to refocus on the screen. So now everyone at his work would think that Kai was going out with Rei. It was only a matter of time before Enrique 'accidentally' unleashed the new gossip on the building.

Thankfully Kai was confident that no one in the building except for him knew who Rei was. Although the café was popular, often it was too much of a hassle for anyone to actually walk anywhere to get lunch. As far as Kai knew, he was the only one who faithfully walked out of the building every lunchtime to walk the few blocks to get to Rei's café. Most other people went to the places that were closer or of higher prestige and could be reached by car.

It was an interesting feeling, knowing that most of the people Kai knew would soon think that he was with Rei. Interesting. But not unpleasant.

No, most definitely not unpleasant.

Kai opened his draw and fingered a small business card he had taken from the café when it had just opened. It announced about a delivery service that the café offered, taking sandwiches to nearby businesses.

Most importantly, it had the café's number on it.

Kai could easily dial up the café and listen to Rei's voice, if only for a few seconds before he had to hang up. He couldn't let Rei know who he was. Kai didn't know why but he knew that he couldn't. Not yet.

"What's that?" Brooklyn asked, turning around to Kai.

Kai looked up at Brooklyn and narrowed his eyes before stuffing the card back in the draw and shutting it with a slam. "Don't you have your own life to annoy people with?" Kai asked him.

Brooklyn sighed and turned back to his computer. "Apparently not." He murmured, tapping a few keys. He inwardly sighed. Kai never would want to talk to him, would he? Brooklyn didn't particularly care either way for Kai but he found it rather uncomfortable to be openly despised by the Russian.

_I wonder why?_ Brooklyn thought, his hands tapping on the keyboard, completely independent of his thoughts.

That was one of the things that he loved about the work that he had chosen to do. He could float between the two extremes of being able to think about anything and everything while he worked and being able to drown himself in the mindless tasks he was required to do, numbers and sums taking over any sort of thoughts that were annoying or unsettling him.

The sound of Kai not typing made Brooklyn break out of his reverie.

"Stop daydreaming over your new boyfriend and actually try to get some work done for once, Kai." Johnny told him, looking at the photo of Rei and smirking. "What the hell he sees in you is beyond me."

Kai glared up at Johnny. "Why would you want to know anyway? Jealous?"

Johnny snorted. "Hardly. I just wanted to know if he actually knew anything about you. I'm guessing not or he'd be running screaming by now. I know _I _wouldn't want to spend an extended amount of time with you."

"No one's asking you to." Kai told him, digging a nail into his palm to stop him from hurting Johnny in some way. _Arsehole. I'm going to kill him one day_ Kai vowed.

Johnny grinned, taking that as a win by him. He looked over at Brooklyn. "Keep up the good work. It's good to know there's some good people in here."

As Johnny walked away Brooklyn heard Kai mutter "I can see you're not one of them, are you?"

Brooklyn sighed and continued working, understanding now why Kai really didn't like him. It had nothing to do with him and everything to do with Johnny.

That still didn't mean that Kai didn't interest him on some level.

That didn't mean that at all.

* * *

Before people jump me this is -not- a BrooklynKai fic (Though that pairing is the awesomest of awesomes) Brooklyn's only interested in Kai because he doesn't understand him - yes? Not going to kill the Panda? Goodo then!

Why Panda decided to write in third person is beyond her

Please tell me what you think


	8. Screwdriver

**Title:** Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Screwdriver

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note:**Hello everybody!

I am sooo sorry for the delay. Brick has decided that he hates the world and so has killed his floppy drive which is the only way I can communicate with him… meaning that I had to retype this entire chapter.

Not happy, Jan.

So, in essence, Brick and I have decided to part ways. This may be for a long time or permanently. It depends if my friend can scrounge up a better laptop for the same price that it would take to fix Brick as he has faithfully promised he can. So we shall see.

But while Brick's parting of the merry company is sad there's a new arrival! Kumi-kun. Kumi-kun is the panda plushie I got for Valentines day. He's a distant cousin of Panda-chan and is also helping with the creative processes.

AND one last note. I'm going on a literary search for the WORST books. Be they sappy crappy plotless romances to uninteresting 100000 page drabbles what is the worst book you've ever read? Already suggested are Mills and Boon and Danielle Steel (Who I like - Silent Honor Rocks my socks )

And I think I may end it there Enjoy the very late chapter

- Panda, Panda-chan and Kumi-kun.

P.S. Brick wishes me to beep for him.

* * *

Rei watched the clock apprehensively. Tonight was the night.

Tala had not shut up all day about how he was going to make Rei dance. He had told absolutely everyone who had so much as _looked_ at the café, let alone those who had walked into it.

It had led Rei to conclude that the redhead really _didn't _have any other life apart from the one that he gleaned out of the enjoyment of enjoying others pain/embarrassment/suicidal thoughts.

Now that he thought of it, Tala was a lot like Lee.

Except it was possible to have an ordinary conversation with Lee without looking around for escape routes.

Speaking of, Rei had been hiding in the kitchen with Lee for the last hour of the day, finally tiring of Tala's constant ranting and retreating into the slightly less insane realm of Lee's kitchen.

He had immediately been set to work as the dish boy.

"I'm meant to own this place," Rei grumbled as he washed a coffee cup for what he swore was the fifteenth time. "Doesn't that make me exempt from doing stuff like this?"

"No." Lee replied simply as he began to pack up all of the random utensils and appliances that he had used throughout the day. "You're either in here doing that or you're out there having to listen to Tala tell everyone about how he's going to make you do the hokey pokey."

Rei grinned at the imagery and sighed before checking the clock again. "Do you promise that you won't leave me to Tala's mercy?" He asked Lee, looking over his shoulder. "I don't think I could deal with him and the nightclub crazies."

Lee smirked and saluted. "Aye aye, _mon capitan_" He said in a French accent before rolling his eyes and finishing putting away his stuff. "I won't let Tala get to you."

"I heard my name!" Tala said as he walked into the kitchen with Bryan close behind him.

"That's because we were talking about you." Lee told him. "Are you done out there yet?" He asked, indicating to the main café.

"Would we be back here if we weren't?" He clapped his hands together in delight and smirked at Rei. "You know what that means, don't you?"

"You suddenly have the urge for a quiet night in?" Rei hazarded.

"Uh… no." Tala told him, smirking. "That means that, for once in your poor, sheltered life, you, my friend are going to have some FUN."

Tala threw his hands up at the last word and managed to hit his hand on a random hanging pan. "SHIT! OWOWOWOwowowow!" He whimpered, holding his injured hand gently.

"It's a bad omen!" Rei said seriously, "Tonight's a bad night to have fun."

"Says who?" Tala asked curiously.

"An ancient Chinese proverb" Rei said sincerely.

Tala looked across at Lee who shook his head. "Liar!" He told Rei, pouting.

Rei shrugged. "It was worth a try."

Tala rolled his eyes and let go of his hand, wincing slightly at the pain that action caused. "You're not getting out of it ReiRei."

Rei sighed in defeat and slumped against one of the counters.

"I'm so glad you agree! Now, Bryan and I will meet you two out front of that club near that weird boutiquey place with the model wearing a ferret on it's head in the window."

Rei and Lee blinked in unison. "Uhhh…"

"Where?" Lee asked Tala.

"_You_ know! That place! With the weird flashy things outside." Tala elaborated unhelpfully. "I can't remember the name of the club- It started with an M"

Lee blinked before something clicked. "Oh! You meant _that_ place- with the red stuff at the front? The one that looks slightly evil?"

"That's the one!" Tala said happily, nodding enthusiastically.

Lee nodded in reply. "Ok then. Rei and I'll be there." He promised the redhead before turning to Rei. "Which means that we actually have to leave."

Rei, who had been sneaking toward his office in the hope of escaping the looming night blushed and stopped moving, sheepishly. "Ok… Bryan? Can you kill all of the lights while I set the alarm?" He asked the as yet silent Russian.

Bryan nodded and moved away from the group with Rei turned toward the alarm. He quickly flipped open the cover of the alarm keypad, revealing the numbered buttons beneath. His password was a weird one. He wasn't sure where he had picker it up but he always remembered it. Rei had always figured he'd read it in a book somewhere.

He quickly keyed in the numbers- _274437_

_Driger_

Rei mentally shrugged at the password as he had done a million times before. Whatever worked.

"Come on." Lee ordered him when they were outside. "I stuck my clothes in my car this morning so we can go straight to your place to get changed." Lee grinned. "Whatever possessed you to not get a car anyway?"

Rei shrugged. "It's not that bad, plus there's the bonus of non-traffic." He said, gesturing to the cars already piling up on the street outside the café. Lee shrugged and grinned. "Details." He said offhandedly. He eyed the traffic again. "… How about we walk to your place and walk back here when we need the car to get to the club." He suggested after a moments hesitation.

Rei grinned and nodded. "Sounds like a plan." Ok, you get your stuff and we'll start walking. It isn't far."

Lee nodded and walked to his car, unlocking it and searching through it. "So… where do you live, anyway?"

_-o-_

Rei stared at Lee in horror. "What is _that_?" He asked, staring at it in a mixture of revulsion and fear.

"What the hell do you think it is, Dickwad?" Lee snapped, scowling at Rei.

Rei shook his head, eyes wide with the sheer horror of the sight before him. "I-it's hideous"

"HEY! This is my outfit we're talking about, you know." Lee said crankily, gesturing down at his clothes.

"That's not an outfit." Rei said simply. "That's an abomination. I don't know how wise it was to let you choose my outfit. It could have turned out like _that_."

Lee scowled before looking slightly uncertain. "It's not that bad is it?"

Rei considered between telling his friend the truth or a complete and utter bald-faced lie.

In truth, Lee looked like he'd fit in on the Australian side of an Australia vs South Africa cricket match.

The Chinese man was dressed in green and gold. And not in a way that looked becoming. It was a mixture of shades that Rei could only describe as mustard yellow and snot green.

All in all it was a terrifying sight. Lee had a black shirt on with another open shirt on over the top. It was the top layer that was sending out the hideous images. It had some sort of tribal looking pattern in the aforementioned colours on it. To complement the eyesore, Lee was wearing a pair of pants in a slightly nicer shade of green that clashed horribly with the shirts green. All in all it was a candidate for burning.

"Is it?" Lee asked. "My sister picked it out. She wants to be a fashion designer for the stars or something like that. Normally I tune out whenever it gets to her rambling about her dreams and aspirations and so on."

"You're such a caring big brother." Rei said sarcastically.

"Oh, I know. So? Your verdict?"

"Tell your sister to find another career and take that God-awful shirt off" Rei said distractedly.

Lee raised an eyebrow. "Rei! I never knew you felt that way!" He said mockingly.

Rei rolled his eyes. "Whatever you reckon. Just take off that shirt before I pass out."

Lee took off the yellowy-green thing and threw it on the floor. "Better?" He asked.

"Much." Rei told him, grinning. "I can foresee my sight returning in the near future."

"That's good to hear. Tell me how that works out for you." Lee told him before catching sight of the clock. "Shit point five! We're late!"

He grabbed Rei's arm, and began to drag him toward the front door of his apartment while Rei was still trying to figure out what Lee had just said.

"We're late?" He asked, confused.

"Very much so." Lee said as he continued to pull Rei down the corridor of the hallway of his apartment, dragging him towards the lifts.

Rei began to realise just how difficult it was to move in his _pants_

He was meant to _dance_ in these things? Let alone…

"Uh… Lee?"

"Mm?"

"I don't think I can sit down."

Somehow or another Rei had managed to sit down in Lee's car, not without a lot of swearing and severely lowering his chances of ever having children. But they had arrived outside the club Tala had told them about.

"Marcellin?" Rei questioned as he looked at the sign above the door.

Lee shrugged and walked over to where Tala and Bryan were standing, the former of the two looking decidedly pissed off.

Tala was clothed in shades of black. Rei was sure that he could be arrested for his outfit of a tight black semi-see-through mesh top combined with low-riding pants that had lines of mesh running down the legs. There was more mesh than actual pant material.

"You're late!" Tala told them crankily.

Rei shrugged. "Couldn't be helped. Lee was having a slight wardrobe crisis."

Bryan frowned as he looked at Lee. "What wardrobe?" He asked.

Lee scowled. "You're one to talk." He told Bryan who had gone for a simple black and white look, wearing a striped shirt with a small bird on the back embroidered into it and plain black pants.

Bryan shrugged but said nothing more.

Tala watched the brief exchange and sighed before gesturing to a rather frighteningly tall blonde guy standing outside the door of the club. "You two are so lucky that while you were dealing with Lee's wardrobe malfunction I got to know Spencer here. Seems he has an affinity with coffee. I've told him to look us up sometime. He can't wait for his free coffee."

Rei blinked. "Free coffee?" He wondered out loud as Tala walked up to the blonde again.

"Spence! My friends finally arrived with a lameass excuse, _as expected_ but they are here! Mind if we go in now?"

The tall blonde man nodded and stepped aside from the door, allowing the foursome to pass him, Rei bringing up the rear.

Rei's first impression of the club was a wall of noise. It took him a few seconds to get used to the feeling of being deaf but still being able to hear while he inspected his surroundings.

Despite the impression of space created by the pure white décor Rei noticed that the club wasn't that large at all. He silently blessed Tala for taking them to a relatively small club- at least on the scale of things. Rei noticed a spiral staircase leaning to the second level of the club. He looked up to see people walking above him on the industrial metal framing of the second level.

_I sure as hell hope that thing doesn't fall_.

"So? Are you dancing?" Tala asked, already unconsciously bouncing along to the beat.

Lee looked across at the dance floor that took up pretty much all of the floor space of the room and the sea of moving bodies on it. _I need a drink_, he decided. "No, Rei and I are going to check out the view from the bar. We'll be there if you need us." He said quickly before dragging Rei through the crowd and toward the bar on the other side of the room.

None of them noticed a dark figure slipping through the doors and stopping to stand out of sight of Tala and Bryan.

Kai wondered if Rei knew how hard it had been to follow him to this place. Not that he begrudged the Chinese man for it; it added a bit more challenge to his pursuit of Rei.

He had had to wait near Lee's car until Rei and Lee had returned to it. He had heard Lee grumbling about having to drive all the way to a suburb in the city and had hailed a cab, telling the cabbie to go to that same suburb.

Then he had followed the two Chinese men by foot. Thankfully, the traffic had been rather horrific and Kai was able to keep up with them easily.

It had been interesting getting past Spencer but eventually Kai had managed it, slipping into the club and straight up to the second floor, where he could scan for Rei easily.

He watched Rei wake to the bar in the wake of Lee.

_I wonder if he's actually been somewhere like this before? _Kai wondered as he settled himself against the railing of the second floor, bobbing his head vaguely in time with the music blaring throughout the club as a way of fitting in while he watched Rei intently.

Rei, oblivious to Kai's scrutiny was about to try his first ever cocktail/alcoholic drink in general.

"What do they call this again?" He asked Lee who was grinning ferally as he watched Rei eye off the beverage.

"That, my friend, is called a Screwdriver." Lee told him. "Now drink it."

Rei sniffed at the drink before recoiling at the strange smell. "I… don't think I want to."

"Ah- but you must." Lee told him in the style of a freakish monk. "Just take a mouthful."

Rei nodded unsure but trusting as he raised the glass to his lips and took a sip of the drink. He gagged. "What the hell _is_ that?" He gasped.

"I told you before, that's a Screwdriver. Have another go."

Rei tentatively sipped the drink again, hating the taste but finding it semi-addictive. In its gross taste and addictive nature it was like coffee… Rancid coffee, but still coffee.

Lee nodded in satisfaction. "Good Lad." He said grinning. He noticed a drinking competition being led by a vague acquaintance of his nearby. It looked interesting. "I'm off." He told Rei before moving over to join them and say hello to the person he knew.

Rei sighed and looked around at the club, drink held loosely in his hand. _Why the hell am I here? _He wondered as he took another sip of the drink and made a face. He felt a weird cloudiness settle itself around his head. It wasn't unpleasant- just strange.

Rei wrinkled his nose and took another sip of his Screwdriver. It figured that his first drinking experience would be a cocktail in a nightclub.

Rei had always tried to stay out of trouble and so had skipped the stage of doing everything against his parents- finding that it was easier to just go along with what they wanted. It led to a peaceful home life and meant that Rei could get on with his life the way that he wanted to.

He still hadn't figured out what had possessed him to come to Japan to start a café of all things.

He had always dreamed of coming to Japan. His father had been mildly obsessed with the country and Rei had learned Japanese along with his native language when he was a small child. It probably only made sense that he would one day end up living here.

He never could have predicted what his life was like though. He couldn't, even yesterday, have guessed that he'd be ordering his second Screwdriver while watching the person who he considered to be his best friend drinking something with a really strange name in a complicated three-step process.

Rei shrugged and began to drink his second cocktail. It tasted ok now. Rei could only theorise that he had killed all of his tastebuds with the first drink.

Rei grinned and began to listen to the all-encompassing music that throbbed throughout the club. _I wonder where Tala and Bryan got to?_ He wondered as he took another sip of his drink.

He mentally shrugged and began to barge his way through the crowd to find Lee who was grinning happily as he prepared to drink a shot glass of _something_.

"What's that?" Rei asked in Lee's ear, startling the Chinese man.

When Lee had recovered from his shock he smiled idly and gestured to the glass. "That, my friend, is _tequila. _It is the closest thing to kerosene that can be ingested", he told Rei seriously before turning back to the others participating in the competition.

"You ready?" One of them asked, grinning wickedly.

Lee nodded. "Let's go."

Rei sighed and left Lee with a vague wave. "I'm going to go find Tala and Bryan."

"You do that."

Rei rolled his eyes and finished his screwdriver. He was sure that he'd read something about that first-time drinkers should only drink in moderation. The problem was that he didn't quite know what moderation was.

_I knew I should have told someone I don't drink_ He thought vaguely, blinking to try to clear his thoughts. _Stupid people with their stupid ideas to bring me here_.

"Rei!" Came a familiar voice as Tala made his way through the crowd to him. "I've been looking everywhere for you! You really should come out on to the dance floor! It's great!"

Rei frowned. "But I don't know how to dance…"

Tala rolled his eyes. "You think anyone here does?" He gestured to a pair of people who looked like they were in a complex fight to the death rather than dancing as his example.

Rei blinked. "Right. I need another drink."

Tala stopped what he was doing and reached out to grab Rei's arm, suddenly serious. "Are you ok?" He asked, blue eyes concerned. He had noticed a slight slurring of Rei's speech and the vague way he was looking around, eyes never truly focussing on anything.

Rei nodded and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine. I just want another of those screwdrivery-thingys." He said vaguely.

Tala nodded. "Right. You, my friend, need to dance. It's the only way guaranteed to make you feel better", he said wisely, pushing Rei into the mass of bodies that consisted of the dance floor.

"But I feel fine!" Rei protested as he was swept up into the crowd. He pulled Tala with him. "Perfectly fine!"

Tala nodded, humouring Rei. "You don't look fine. How much have you had to drink?"

Rei frowned as he thought about that question. It hadn't been that much… He'd only had two Screwdrivers…which were probably worth a few drinks each… Rei scratched the back of his head, trying to think. It wasn't going so well.

"How much?"

Rei shrugged and grinned. "It doesn't matter, does it?" He asked. "You're meant to drink in a place like this." Rei threw his areas out expansively, grinning and allowed himself to be swept away from where Tala stood.

Tala watched him go, frowning in concern. He felt a glass being pressed into his hands and gripped it instinctively. He inspected it carefully before looking behind himself at the man who had given it to him.

"Bryan? What's this?" He asked sipping it cautiously in case if it was a poison of some sort. He wouldn't put something like that past Bryan.

"That's a Fallen Angel." Bryan said, gesturing to the glass of faintly green liquid. "It sounded interesting so I got one."

Tala took another sup and closed his eyes, enjoying the taste. "So you decided to test it out on me first?" He asked. "It's good." He passed it to Bryan. "Try it. I think you'll like it."

Bryan nodded his consent and took a small sip. "It's ok." He said eventually, smirking at the face Tala made at that comment.

"It's _ok_? Is that the only comment I'm going to get out of you tonight? You've barely said a word!"

Bryan shrugged and took another sip of Tala's drink. "There didn't seem to be much to say." He explained.

Tala rolled his eyes and sighed, looking at the drink Bryan was once again stealing a sip from. "Are you going to give me back my drink," He pouted.

"But I bought it!" Bryan protested, raising the glass to his lips again, this time taking a long, slow drink from it.

"So? It's mine!"

Bryan sighed and wrapped an arm around Tala's waist before whispering in the redhead's ear conspirationally. "What's yours is mine, what's mine is mine."

"Well that's hardly fair, is it?" Tala asked.

Bryan shrugged and drank from the glass again. "Life's not fair." He said in a matter of fact tone. He smirked and fended off Tala's attempt to snatch the glass from him.

Tala sighed and threw up his hands. "Fine! I don't care! I'm getting my own drink!" He detangled himself from Bryan's arm and began to stalk off.

Bryan smirked and took another sip of the cocktail. This happened almost every time Tala dragged him to a club. Soon Tala would turn around and-

"Brrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyaaannnn."

"Hm?" Bryan asked, smirking.

"Give it to me!" Tala ordered petulantly.

"For a price." Bryan answered simply, taking another sip from the glass.

A sudden light of understanding turned on in Tala's eyes "Ooooh" He said slowly before making his way back to Bryan slowly and seductively.

He reached the lavender haired man and looked up at him. Tala moved his hand up to rest in the middle of Bryan's chest. "And what would that price be?" He purred.

"Buying yourself another drink."

Tala scowled and hit Bryan's chest, hard. "I could really hate you sometimes." He told Bryan petulantly.

Bryan smirked. "You could never hate me." He said so quietly Tala only caught it by lip-reading. Bryan took a mouthful of the cocktail and took hold of Tala's chin. He tilted the redhead's face upwards and kissed Tala.

Tala shut his eyes and reached up to wrap his arms around Bryan's neck, pulling him closer. Bryan smirked into the kiss and deepened it, feeding the mouthful of the drink he had just taken to Tala. Tala half opened his eyes in surprise before making a small sound in the back of his throat and drinking what Bryan gave him, not before enjoying the unique combined taste of the cocktail and Bryan.

"Bryan! I've been looking for you everywhere!" Lee exclaimed, looking at the Russian's back and not seeing Tala's arms. He began walking around to Bryan's front. "I was wondering if you knew where Rei and…Tala…is…" He finished, staring at the pair.

Neither Bryan nor Tala heard anything Lee had said, whether this was because of the loud music or because they were too wrapped up in each other is unknown.

Lee stared at them in shock before turning away from his workmates. _I didn't just see that I didn't just see that I didn't just see that_. He chanted to himself as a mantra as he began to search the crowd, trying to find the missing Rei.

He caught sight of Rei's hair and began to make his way toward it, barging and elbowing his way through the crowd. He had left the drinking competition when he had begun to feel tipsy. He could definitely feel the effects of the alcohol on him now.

Rei was in the middle of a mass of people, both men and women. From what Lee could see, he was dancing with both indiscriminately.

_So much for not wanting to rub yourself against random strangers _Lee thought ironically as he pushed his way through the crowd. "Rei!" He said, getting the other Chinese man's attention.

"Lee!" Rei said happily, making his way over to his friend and draping his arms around Lee's neck and pulling him close while still moving to the beat of the song. "You've come to dance with me!"

Lee blinked at the very _very_ intimate way Rei was pressing himself against him. "Uh… no, Re…" He said slowly, trying not to overexcite Rei.

Obviously, the bug of temporary insanity, known better as '_Le Alcohol'_, had bitten Rei.

_I really should have given him the non-alcoholic stuff. Why oh why did I give him a cocktail?_ Lee berated himself as Rei continued to move against him.

"Why aren't you dancing?" Rei asked, confused.

"I…uh… can't dance?" Lee offered, looking for his escape route.

"That's no excuse! Here, I'll show you!" Rei told him enthusiastically, increasing the speed of his movements, completely out of time with the music.

"That's some nice demonstrating you have there." Lee said placatingly, before detangling himself from Rei's grasp. "But I have to go and do important things."

Rei pouted before grinning and waving. "Ok! Come back to me when you're done!" He called out to Lee before wrapping his arms around the closest person to him, who happened to be a brunette woman, who was all to happy to return Rei's attention.

_I need a drink_ Lee decided, making his way to the bar for the second time that night. _Rei's fine. I need to get drunk to handle his sexy dance though._

He reached the bar. "Give me the strongest drink you have." He told the barman, leaning on the counter.

"Lee!" Tala said, coming to lean on the bar beside the Chinese man. "What're you doing?" He asked.

"Getting drunk, you?"

"Oh, same, same." He said airily before looking at the drink the bartender place in from of Lee. "What the hell is that?" He asked.

Lee shrugged and took a gulp of it. His eyes bugged and he coughed long and hard after swallowing it, trying to control the fire that had started in his throat. "Jesus!" He said hoarsely.

Tala smirked and looked at the bartender. "I want two of that."

_-o-_

_Some time later_

Rei grinned as he finished dancing with another person. He hadn't realised that a night like this could be so _fun_. He grinned as he pressed himself fully against a new candidate for his attentions.

The blonde man in front of Rei grinned and wrapped answering arms around Rei's body, drawing him closer, still moving to the beat of the music.

The old Rei would have pulled away quickly, blushing, but the new, alcohol-friendly Rei smirked and purred in the back on his throat.

Kai watched Rei, slightly jealous of the attention the blonde man was receiving but not begrudging Rei for it. He knew that the blonde meant nothing to Rei so he was able to watch with barely constrained lust as Rei ran his hands over the other man.

Kai imagined himself in the place of the other man and shut his eyes, briefly, making a small sound in the back of his throat as he imagined Rei's hands all over him, tracing the intricate patterns that only Rei could make sense of.

Kai looked down at his camera mournfully. He had taken all of the pictures the film would fit in the earlier parts of the night. Now all he had to rely on was his memory.

He wasn't going to forget this night in a hurry.

Rei excused himself by the man by pressing himself fully against the stranger one last time before detangling himself from the blonde's arms. "I'm getting another drink." He offered by way of explanation before making his way through his surrounding crowd, toward the bar.

He saw his three workmates by the bar and went over to them. "Hey!" He said happily.

Lee turned around to him and raised his glass. "Hurro!" He said loudly, placing his glass back on the bench roughly, making it slosh over the edges. "We mished you!" He said, leaning over to give Rei a friendly hug and instead falling over.

Tala let out a high-pitched cackle and pointed at Lee. "You're drunk!" He said, taking another gulp of his drink.

"So're you!" Lee muttered, pushing himself off the floor and slinging an arm around Rei, leading him to the bar. "You're gonna haf'ta try thish stuff." Lee told Rei sincerely, giving the other his glass. "'s blurry good."

Rei nodded and took a gulp of the drink coughing and gagging when he had swallowed it.

"Wha' did I tell ye?" Lee asked, grinning.

Rei wiped tears from his eyes and took a smaller sip. He didn't see the need for words. They only got in the way, anyway.

He suddenly felt a sick feeling in his stomach. He looked around urgently for the sign to the bathroom. He spotted one and began to run towards it, leaving Bryan and Lee confused and Tala in fits of giggles.

Rei reached the bathroom and looked around desperately for a toilet, he found one and threw up in it almost immediately. He gripped the sides of the toilet bowl tightly as he emptied the contents of his stomach into it.

When he had finished, Rei tried to control his breathing and shaking body to no effect. He felt himself become light-headed, even more so than when the alcohol had begun to take effect and shut his eyes to try and ease the feeling. He forced himself to his feet and staggered to the door of the cubicle. He opened his eyes again and noticed that the world was spinning.

Rei wobbled where he stood, still trying to get a hold of himself. _I'm never drinking again_. He vowed as he lost his balance and fell to the floor, unconscious and still gripping the doorframe.

Kai walked into the bathroom a few minutes later, when Rei hadn't reappeared he had begun to get worried and had come to investigate. He was glad that he had.

"Rei?" He asked quietly. When he received to reply, he walked over to where Rei was lying and touched his cheek gently.

Rei made a face and moaned quietly but didn't stir, otherwise.

Kai smiled softly and gathered the Chinese man in his arms, thrilling at the contact between them. He unconsciously held Rei closer than was necessary; enjoying and wanting every bit of contact he could get from the café owner.

He freed one of his arms and traced the outline of Rei's face gently. He was shocked when Rei responded by snuggling into Kai more.

_Is this what you want?_ He wondered, feeling an overwhelming surge of protectiveness settling on his shoulders. He stood and began to make his way out to Rei's friends, still holding Rei in his arms.

Kai had found it interesting how each of the employees of the café had reacted to alcohol. Both Lee and Tala seemed to be freakishly happy drunks while Bryan just seemed to sink deeper into his normal stoic depression. His observations of them gave him something to do in the few brief moments when Rei had been out of sight.

"Is this your friend?" Kai asked, changing his voice and giving himself an accent, it wouldn't do for them to recognise him. "I thought I saw he was with you."

Lee blinked as he recognised Rei. "Shit! Is 'e ok?"

Kai nodded and handed Rei's unconscious form over to Lee, ignoring the urge to steal Rei away forever. He noted with some satisfaction that Lee held Rei awkwardly. "He's fine. You just might want to take him home." He said easily.

Lee checked his watch. "Is it that time?" He asked, showing his watch to Tala. The redhead blinked and reached out to grab Lee's arm, holding it still so he could read it a little bit easier.

A sudden thought occurred to him. "Shiiiit. We have to go to work tomorrow." Tala told them, staring at the watch that clearly read 3AM.

"Says who?" Bryan asked, wrapping his arm around Tala's waist and pulling the redhead toward him, nuzzling his neck.

"Do you really think that our darhling Rei is going to let us all have a day off on _Saturday_? We're screwed."

Lee thought about what Tala had said for a second before slumping against the bar, holding on to Rei tightly. "Craaaaaaaaaaaap." He groaned.

Kai had made his exit while they were talking about the coming day. He could still feel a tingling in every part of his body Rei had touched.

He thought about the way that Rei had been totally at home in his arms, unlike the way he had looked in Lee's. Had Rei known that it was Kai who was holding him?

Kai smiled to himself as he left the club and began to walk down the street, looking for a taxi. He must have known. That meant that Rei had made a choice.

He had chosen Kai.

And Kai was perfectly ok with that.

* * *

Please tell me what you think!


	9. Death on Wheels

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Death on Wheels

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **I am so so sorry about the delay. There's been at least a dozen different reasons- none of which I'm going to go into detail with because I'm far too lazy to. Needless to say, my page a day resolution has been laughed at, thrown to the ground, stamped on and then had concrete shoes put on it.

And to top it off it's a fairly short chapter. Well short compared to how long I thought it was going to be. But oh well.

Anyways, I hope that you like this one!

* * *

Rei was woken by at least a dozen screaming banshees trying to drill into his head with dentist drills.

Or, at least, that's what it sounded like. Rei groaned and reached out to hit the snooze button on his alarm. He couldn't actually remember turning the evil device on the night before. But somehow or another, miracles do happen. Or, in the case of the clock, _anti_-miracles.

A loud groan made Rei crack open his eyes and look across the room, squinting as he waited for his eyes to get used to _seeing_ again.

He moved his head slowly so the large whatever it was masquerading as his brain wouldn't move too much inside of his skull. He blinked as he looked at the form of his best friend passed out on the opposite side of the room. "Lee?" He asked quietly.

"Mnrf." Came a groaned reply. Lee sat up and glared at Rei. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked.

Rei blinked. "Um…" He looked around the room and realised he recognised absolutely nothing in it. "Where is here?" He asked, rubbing his head and trying to get loose hairs out of his face.

Lee frowned as if Rei had asked a stupid question. "My place." He stated flatly.

Rei blinked. "Um… how did I get here?" He asked.

Lee shrugged and lay back on what Rei presumed was his bed. It was about then that Rei realised he was sleeping on little more than a blanket and a pillow. "Lovely hospitality." He told Lee.

"I do try." The other Chinese man said flippantly.

The paused in a comfortable silence before Rei said in a normal conversational tone. "I think I'm going to throw up."

"Bathroom's down the hall to the left." Lee said helpfully.

Rei ran through Lee's house and just made it to the bathroom before he emptied his already empty stomach into the ivory bowl of Lee's toilet.

_I finally get to see Lee's house and my first impression is of the place he… no I don't want to think of what he does here. In fact, quit the thinking thing. It's not good._

"Rei?" Lee asked, sticking his head into the bathroom and taking in the other's position kneeling in front of the throne.

"I feel like shit." Rei told him in a monotone.

Lee grinned and reached for the Panadol that he knew were somewhere in the vicinity of the sink. He took two himself and threw the box at Rei. "Take some. Then maybe you'll graduate to feeling like crap."

Rei took the box and looked up at Lee with a look of disbelief in his eyes. "You've just painted a very bleak picture of my day, you know that?"

Lee smirked and rubbed his eyes before searching for a brush to tame his hair. It had turned into a puffball overnight. "Did you know we need to go to work today?" He asked mildly as he played with a knot in his hair.

Rei paused from closing the box of Panadol. "You're kidding me." He stated flatly.

Lee shook his head, ignoring the pain that the action caused. "Nope."

"I hate my life." Rei said flatly.

_-o-_

They were met by death at the café counter,

"...Tala?" Rei asked tentatively.

The thing that looked vaguely like Tala moved it's entire body to face Rei. "Wha?" it asked, bloodshot eyes boring into the Chinese man's.

Rei blinked as he took in the redhead's appearance. His normally pale skin was bordering on grey. And he looked like he hadn't slept for weeks. "Um… are you ok?" He asked. He was feeling better from the shower he had had at Lee's place. It had been warm and oh so awakening.

It was good.

And the Panadol didn't hurt things either.

Or the coffee. Coffee helped a lot.

"Do I look ok?" Tala asked grumpily, leaning on the counter and trying to fall asleep on it. "I'm not going to survive today," he groaned.

"It doesn't look like you survived last night." Lee said cheerfully as he walked into the kitchen to begin setting up for the day.

Tala glared after the chef but didn't move. "I want to kill him." He said mournfully, slowly turning to look blearily at Rei. "How come he's so chipper?"

Rei shrugged and poured himself a cup of coffee- his third. And he hadn't been awake more than an hour and a half. He could feel the caffeine fairies closing in on him. "I don't know. He's annoying like this though isn't he?" Rei grimaced as the hot coffee scalded his tongue. "I think today I'm going to stay in my office and nurse my headache. I'm never going to forgive you for forcing us to go _there_." Whether Rei was too traumatised to repeat the name of the club or whether he had simply forgotten it was debatable.

Tala shrugged. "Whatever., he said noncommittally.

Rei frowned. "Where's Bryan?" He asked suddenly realising that the normally silent Russian was MIA.

"He was trying to kill the cash register so I sent him into your office where he couldn't murder people." Tala shrugged. "I thought that might be bad for business."

"Riiiiiiight." Rei said slowly. "So what you're saying is that the only person who can actually work properly today is _Lee_?" He asked.

"Hey!" Tala protested. "_I_ can work perfectly fine." He rubbed his eyes and glared at Rei. "I'm just… _struggling_ with the fact that I'm apparently alive."

"So is the rest of the world. You look like someone's going to call a coroner rather than order coffee." Rei said bluntly.

"Well who else is going to do this?" Tala asked, playing with one of the bangs of hair in front of his face "You?" He asked hopefully.

Rei let out a bark of laughter. "Not likely." He said. "Soon all the drugs I took are going to wear off. _Then _I'm going to need my office to be homicidal-Bryan free."

Tala smirked. "Then it's agreed. I have to stay here."

Rei sighed as he moved aside for someone to order a coffee from Tala. He couldn't help but notice the nervous look the person had on his face as a zombie served him.

Tala gave the man his coffee and managed a tired grimace. "Have a nice day."

The customer nodded slowly and walked out of the café to sit at the table furthest from the living dead.

Rei sighed explosively. "Great. Just great." He shook his head and walked away from Tala, toward the kitchen doors, an idea forming in his head. "I'll be back." He muttered before disappearing into the kitchen.

Lee looked up from preparing a sandwich and smiled. "Good morning, Sunshine." He said.

Rei frowned. "Where's the eternally pissed off with his lot in life Lee that we've all come to know and detest?" He asked, it occurring to him that Lee had been a lot friendlier than he normally was. Rei was actually beginning to want Lee to say something sarcastic and entirely undermine his self-esteem. At least then things would be normal-ish.

Lee shrugged as he finished making the sandwich and cut it into two before packing it in a plastic case, ready to go on display when it came around to lunch time. "It's just something about having a skull splitting headache that makes me kinder to my fellow man."

Rei grinned. "Lee. You're never kind to your fellow man."

"So? I don't see you complaining." Lee said easily as he began to put together another sandwich, his hands moving without really thinking about it.

"Nyeh." Rei said articulately. "It's unnerving." He said. "Oh!" Rei exclaimed, remembering why he had come back there in the first place. "Can you ring your sister for me?"

"Eh?" Lee asked, the knife he was using to cut a tomato slipping and nicking his finger. "Ouch!" He stuck his finger in his mouth to suck off the blood.

Rei rolled his eyes. "_That's _sanitary."

"I'll wash my hands right after I finish bleeding to death, Mother." Lee promised, taking his finger out of his mouth to inspect the damage. He barely had any time to look at it before blood began to seep out of the wound again, obscuring his view. "Why do you want me to call Mariah?" He asked, glaring at the knife in his other hand.

"Remember how she wanted a job?" Rei asked. "Call her and tell her if she wants it she has to come in _now_." Rei took the knife away from Lee and went to wash it. "Tala's scaring the people out there." He told Lee as he finished washing the offending object.

"He always scares people." Lee reasoned as he began to look in all of the cupboards fro a first aid kit. "What's new?"

"I saw at least two people look in at him and walk away quickly. Not to mention that customer service isn't exactly in his vocabulary at the moment." Rei explained. Ok, so he was embellishing his story a little bit, he hadn't actually seen those two people but if it made Lee hurry up and call his sister he didn't care.

"Fine. I'll call her as soon as I-" Lee trailed off. "Is the only colour band aid in this thing is pink?" He asked, taking the fluro pink band aid out of the packet and applying it to his finger.

Rei grinned. "But it suits your complexion so well!"

Lee grunted and inspected his handiwork. "Ok. I'll call her." He said. "Just get better colour band aids." He told Rei before leaving the kitchen to find the phone.

Rei smirked. "Bratz it is then." He said to himself before sighing and going to find the coffee machine.

_-o-_

Mariah walked into the café, looking around for her brother. She noticed Tala almost lying on the counter and smiled. She had heard many of Lee's long rants about the redhead. Mostly the rants went along the lines of 'total dickhead who needs to get his head out of his arse so he can see the real world' and the like. She couldn't help but like him.

"Is Lee here?" Mariah asked, walking over to the counter.

Tala looked up at her and blinked, getting used to the pink vision. "Uh... yeah." He said. "Are you Mariah?" He asked, pushing himself off the counter and standing properly.

Mariah nodded the affirmative. "Why?" She asked.

"Because Rei's been pacing through here for like half an hour waiting for you." Tala said cheerfully. "He's so funny when he frets."

"Um… ok." Mariah said slowly. "Can I talk to him then?" Tala nodded and pointed to the kitchen doors. "He'll be coming through them in-" Tala looked up at the clock on the wall. "Three…. Two… One…"

There was no Rei.

"One." Tala said encouragingly.

Still no Rei.

Tala's eyes narrowed and he took a breath. "One One One One One One One One O- HA!"

Rei had walked through the door. He noticed Mariah and smiled, it was more of a grimace. The drugs had worn off and Bryan had stolen all of the Panadol in the first aid kit. Rei wasn't game enough to kick Bryan out of his office, let alone steal the Russian's drugs.

He liked his limbs intact.

Mariah blinked and subtly moved away from Tala. "Are you Rei?" She asked the Chinese man.

Rei nodded. "Yeah, I'm taking it that you're Mariah?" He asked.

"In the flesh."

"…Uh… right…" Rei said, getting distracted by the desperate 'save me from the wrath of customers' movements Tala was making as the constant flow of customers began to get heavier. It was getting around to lunchtime.

Mariah looked at Rei expectantly. "So? What do you want me to do?" She asked.

"Go say hi to your brother first so he doesn't think you've managed to have an accident on your way over here and then get Tala to show you how to work all of the machines and to serve people." Rei instructed. "Then just keep on doing that while Tala returns to the grave he came from." He said, eyeing the Redheads still very grey complexion. Throughout the morning his bloodshot eyes had all but disappeared but he still looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion. "Everyone else will be in the kitchen so just tell us if you have a problem."

Mariah nodded. "Ok then." She said slowly.

Rei nodded. "Good. Ok. Go tell your brother you're alive and come back."

"Ok." Mariah began to move but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"If you survive today you're hired." Rei told her. "Consider this your job interview, resume and long anxious wait in one big ugly hit."

Mariah smirked. "So glad that you go easy on your staff." She told Rei.

"I do try." Rei told her with a grin before moving to help Tala with the people who were coming in. _Half an hour, tops._ He promised himself as he began to serve a cranky looking woman in a business suit. _Then I'm going back inside_.

* * *

Please tell me what you think!


	10. Jealousy

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Jealousy

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **/Prostrates self on ground/

I am so so so so so so so so so sorry for such a late update. Life and writer's block and chocolate have all been playing their part in keeping me away… that and my beloved mother has decided that I'm addicted to the computer.

Actually… there may be something in that… but not the point.

The point is for you all to not kill me.

Because I like my life.

A lot.

…

/hides/

/comes back and hurls chapter at people/

/resumes hiding/

Um… Enjoy?

* * *

Kai groaned softly as he began to wake up. _Not. Happening._ His sleep-fuddled mind decided as he rolled over, trying to ignore the light that had filtered through his window to hit him directly in his eyes.

Predictably, the position that he had moved to soon resulted in a cramp.

Kai swore quietly and sat up, blinking sleepily in the morning- he checked the clock- _noon_ light.  
_  
__Is it that time already?_ He wondered, looking at the wall clock hanging above his door to confirm that a catastrophic number altering bug hadn't attacked his clock.

When it had been confirmed that his clock was catastrophic-bug-free and that he had just slept in, Kai began to shuffle to the side of his bed.

_Coffee. Is. Needed._ He thought as he swung his legs off his bed and rested his feet on the floor.

Kai pushed himself upright and came to stand unsteadily, ignoring the instant headache that the change in altitude had caused. _Really. Need. Coffee._ He decided as he slowly worked out that he could put one foot in front of the other in order to reach the door of his bedroom.

_-o-_

Kai sighed as he took his second blissful sip of his caffeinated beverage. _Much Better_ He thought, content as he felt the warm liquid make it's way down his throat to where it could do its magic.

He moved slowly to sit down at his table. Easing down into his seat he turned to contemplate his wall of Rei.

"'Morning" He muttered, not quite registering that he was talking to inanimate pictures.

Kai sighed as a ghost of a hand with the same warmth as the body he had held last night traced along his shoulders. He shut his eyes as he heard the whispered reply to his greeting, the ghost hands coming to rest on the side of his neck. Kai leant his head back on to the arm connecting to the hand.

The warmth evaporated instantly as his head touched nothing but the thin air his Phantom Rei was made from.

Kai opened his eyes abruptly and leant forward on the table, resting his elbows on the table and his head in his hands.

_I'm acting like a crazy person_ He thought glumly, rubbing his temples.

-o-

"I'll be back in a few hours." Kai told the clerk at the counter of the 'Quick Photostop'. He handed over his film to the pimply teen.

As the film left his fingers he felt a slight pang, urging him to take back his only connection to what had happened the night before. He ignored the urge and turned away, striding back through the door of the small shop and on to the street.

He was going to see the real thing soon anyway.

He took one last look back at the shop, he hoped that they would develop his pictures well. He had been careful to take his film to a different place from the one who had developed his Rei pictures last time.

He was very aware that it wasn't quite normal to have an entire roll of film dedicated to one person.

To have _two_ rolls of film dedicated to that one person might arouse the suspicions of the photo developers.

And that was something he couldn't afford.

Kai sighed and began to walk toward the café, thinking about what Rei would look like after his night out. He smirked as he remembered how comfortable Rei had felt in his arms.

Kai crossed his arms and continued walking, the skin that Rei had touched tingling slightly.

When Kai had handed Rei over to Lee he had held the unconscious man awkwardly. It had looked like he would drop Rei at any second. No matter how much Lee adjusted his grip, Rei refused to sit in a position that was natural for Lee.

And yet he had settled into Kai's arms immediately.

Kai shook his head, amused that he put so much significance into one small event like that. Rei had been unconscious. He couldn't have known anything, let alone that it had been Kai who had rescued him from the floor of the bathroom.

And yet the fact still stood.

Kai looked up when he had to cross a road, being run over by a car was not part of his plans for the day. He stepped off the footpath and walked across the bitumen, ignoring the pedestrian crossing about twenty metres down the road.

He may not have wanted to be run over but risk was an essential part of life.

Kai sighed in contentment as he sighted the Gatling. He knew that Rei was inside just because of the feeling the mere sight of the café gave him.

He shut his eyes briefly. He had forgotten what being anywhere near Rei had felt like, even though he had only seen the Chinese man the night before.

Kai opened his eyes again and strode toward the entrance of the café, more determined than ever to see Rei again and to see how well he had coped with the night before.

Kai blinked as the first impression he got when he walked into the courtyard of the Gatling was something pink flitting through the tables.

_Tala's decided Pink is the new Orange?_ The thought flitted across his mind before he noticed that said pink thing was actually a girl.

_Eh?_ Kai thought intelligently as he saw that indeed she was serving someone coffee before running back inside. He followed her slowly, stepping into the doors of the café and watching as the pink-haired girl stepped behind the counter and smiled at the next person in line.

He saw the stress on the girl's face as she tried to keep composed and listen to what the person in front of her was saying.

Kai frowned and looked around the café, trying to find one of the regular staff. _What's she doing here?_

So engrossed with wondering why the regular staff- and, most importantly, Rei- were missing Kai didn't realise that he was at the front of the line until Mariah started to speak to him.

"What would you like?" She asked.

Kai blinked and looked at Mariah. "Uh..." He said, mind blanking out on him. "Bitter." He blurted out before realising _just_ how freakish that sounded.

"Uh... I mean... something really bitter." He said, trying to _not_ sound like a serial killer.

"Ok..." Mariah said hesitatingly, looking at the selection of coffee. "Um..." She bit her lip and picked one randomly, hoping it would prove to be somewhat bitter.

"Sure!" She said brightly, handing Kai a number. "I'll get you your Moroccan Mixup Coffee in a few minutes." She promised before turning to the next customer.

Kai reached out and touch her on her arm, making Mariah turn back toward him.

"Um... I was wondering where all the normal staff were." He asked.

Mariah gave him a sly smile. "They all had a big night last night." She told him. "So the owner of this place called me in."

Kai nodded and took his number, seeing that his regular table wasn't taken despite how busy it was and smirking.

_At least one thing's normal_ Kai thought as he sat down at the table and turned to contemplating his number, a time-honoured ritual almost every time he came to the Gatling.

_47?_ He thought as he looked at the two digits on the card he had been given. _Prime number. Nice_ He decided before looking up at the counter where the new girl was looking like a deer in the headlights as she listened to a customer.

"Um... I'm not sure I can do that..." She said slowly, looking up at the blonde man towering over her.

He frowned. "But I was told last night that I could come here and get free coffee." He said, puzzled.

Mariah shook her head. "No one told me about it."

Spencer sighed. "Can you go and get one of the people who came to Marcellin last night then?" He asked. "I asked some people about this place last night and they said you had some really nice coffee."

Mariah bit her lip. "Um… Wait a second." She told the blonde, surveying the store and seeing with unhidden relief that there was nothing truly urgent she needed to do. Spencer was the only one in line and number 47's coffee was brewing.

She stepped away from the counter and walked over to the kitchen door, opening it and poking her head in, Kai couldn't help but notice that Mariah had a faint pink blush on her cheeks as she called for Rei to come and help her.

He frowned at that but it was soon forgotten as Rei came out of the doors.

Kai bit his lip to stop from drooling at the sex-on-legs that was Rei as he followed Mariah to the front counter. His night and subsequent morning had left him looking a lot scruffier than he normally appeared.

Kai decided that he liked the 'just got out of bed' look on Rei. It suited him well.

Rei looked at Spencer and smiled in recognition.

"Hey." He said, his voice sounding tired to Kai's ears.

He turned to Mariah and nodded, too _everything_ to notice the blush that remained firmly on the pink-haired girl's face as he spoke to her. "We promised Spencer that he'd get a free cup of coffee here last night." He confirmed to Mariah.

"Now that's what I said." Spencer said with a grin, making Mariah's blush darken.

"Uh... Ok." She said, turning toward the coffee machine and making Kai's coffee to hide her blush. "So... uh... What type of coffee do you want?" She asked, keeping her back to both Spencer and Rei.

Both males exchanged a look of confusion. 'Weird' Spencer mouthed to the Chinese man.

Rei only nodded in reply before walking over to Mariah and touching her on the arm. "Are you ok?" He asked quietly.

Mariah smiled and nodded, looking at Rei, her blush fading. "Yeah. I'm fine." She told him quietly. "What's his name again?" She asked even more quietly, the blush beginning to rise again.

Rei smirked, suddenly understanding. "Spencer." He told her before stepping away, a small smile still on his face. "So what type of coffee do you want?" He asked Spencer.

The blonde man blinked, still trying to understand that there were different types of coffee. He bit his lip. "Um..." He started before shaking his head. "I have no idea." He confessed. "What do you suggest?" He asked Rei.

Rei's eyes widened as he thought. "Uh-"

"I think the... Jamaican Java is nice!" Mariah piped up, picking yet another type of coffee randomly.

Spencer grinned. "Then I'll have that then." He decided.

Rei grinned and looked over at Mariah. "Do you need my help for anything else?" He asked.

Mariah shook her head. "No..." She said, frowning and trying to think if he could do anything. "Wait! Yes!" She said, turning away from Rei and picking up the cup of coffee she had been preparing. "Can you take this to table 47?" She asked, smiling.

Rei grinned and nodded. "Sure." He told her. "Then can I go back in there and die again?" He asked.

Mariah nodded before something occurred to her. "Oh! Did you guys ever get that panadol from that scary guy?"

Rei nodded. "It took all three of us and one of Lee's _really_ big knives to do it though."

Mariah smirked and reached under the counter to produce a brand new unopened packet of painkillers. "Because I found these a little while ago." She told Rei.

Rei's mouth opened and closed as he tried to think of a reply. "You mean I risked life and limb for _nothing?_" He asked eventually.

Mariah nodded. "Pretty much."

"GAH!" Rei exclaimed before turning around and scanning the café for the number he wanted.

Kai quickly began to look at one of the paintings on the wall, not wanting to be caught in his perve-on-Rei session.

Rei saw Kai's number and walked over to him, putting the coffee down in front of him. "Is this yours?" He asked, half smiling at Kai.

Kai blinked and looked up into Rei's golden eyes, remembering suddenly and acutely _exactly_ how it had felt to have the Chinese man in his arms. "Uh..." He said, searching for words that sounded vaguely... well like _words_ would have been a good start.

Rei frowned. "Isn't it?" He asked, reaching down to take the cup back.

"No!" Kai said, reaching out a hand to stop Rei's, all thought leaving his person as their hands brushed. "Uh..." He said, blinking and trying to ignore the 'are you a crazy person' look Rei was giving him. "Uh..." He began again. "I meant that that was mine." He tried to recover.

"Ok then..." Rei said, taking his hand away from Kai's and reaching out to take his number back. "I hope you enjoy your coffee then!" He said, trying to sound bright and awake.

Kai nodded and watched Rei walk away from him, silently berating himself for sounding so stupid. Nevertheless, he felt his eyes beginning to wander, settling for staring at Rei's posterior as he placed the number on the bench next to the new girl.

"Call me if you nee me Mariah." He said, smiling at the pink-haired girl before he disappeared back into the kitchen, Kai's eyes following him.

_Mariah._ Kai thought, putting a face to the name of the girl.

His competition.

-o-

Kai sighed as he shut the door of his apartment, holding his treasure tightly but being careful not to damage it in any way.

He moved over to his dining table and placed the small envelope on it, spending a minute adjusting it so it sat square to the edges of the table. He reached out to open the flap of the envelope slowly, eyes never leaving what his hands were doing.

Once the arduous task of opening the flap was over he saw part of the contents of the envelope. His breath caught in his throat as he slowly slid the photographs out of their envelope and placed the pile neatly in front of him, careful not to leave any fingerprints on the first image.

"Rei." He breathed, eyes feasting on the first picture of the Chinese man at the bar, examining his drink. He carefully took the photo off the top and slip it gently to the bottom of the pile, not taking his eyes off the first photograph until it was fully covered by the pile.

He then neatened up said pile before he allowed himself to peruse the next photo.

This was one of Rei's face after he had tasted his drink. Kai smiled fondly at the photograph.

It was in this manner that he went though all of the photographs, he relieved the night, watching Rei take his second sip of the drink to watching him dance to watching him practically mate with anyone in his airspace.

Kai sighed as he finished going through the pictures and stood up, holding the pile like the holy object that it was to him. He looked at his wall of Rei, envisioning each new photograph in its perfect spot.

He set the photographs down on the table again and began to take them individually, sticking them to his Rei wall in the places that he had envisaged them. He caressed the back of each one lovingly before placing them on their final resting place, stepping back to admire his wall only when it was completely finished.

Kai's eyes wandered through all of his pictures, new and old, feeling the presence of his Rei in the room.

The only thing that ruined the experience was the constant thought of Mariah. He remembered the way she'd blushed when she saw Rei and the way that Rei had seemed close to her.

"Please stay away from her." Kai murmured as much to himself as to Rei. "Please." He repeated.

He sighed as he felt Rei's ghost hands wrap around his torso and embrace him tightly. He closed his eyes, leaning slightly back into the phantom embrace. He listened closely as he heard the voice of his obsession whisper his agreement into his ear, making Kai shiver.

Maybe things would be ok after all.

* * *

Please tell me what you think!


	11. Changing Lanes

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Changing Lanes

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **I've decided that senior schooling sucks monkey's testicles with pineapple. I thought that I'd just get that out of the way.

I'm sorry about the late late update again- I checked the last update day and almost fainted. I really didn't think it had been that long. Life has been waay crazy so I apologise.

On a brighter note, at the moment I'm high on sugar AND am actually on top of all of my assignments for once in my life. That, I am –really- proud of. Ok, enough of ranting about me. Here's the long awaited chapter.

* * *

Brooklyn walked into Johnny's office nervously. This was the first time that he had been inside the Scotsman's personal space since his first day. It was rather unsettling, to say the least.

Johnny followed Brooklyn into his office and closed the door, making the orange-haired man even more nervous. "Has Hiwatari said anything to you?" Johnny asked, walking past Brooklyn to sit across from him.

Brooklyn blinked. "Eh? About what?"

"About why he's not here today." Johnny told him, indicating in the direction of Kai's conspicuously empty desk, visible through the panel of glass in his office wall. "He hasn't rung in sick. He's just not here."

Brooklyn shook his head. "He hasn't said anything to me."

Johnny nodded slowly. "Ok then. Thanks for your co-operation. Looks like you get to do his job today." He told Brooklyn with a wave toward the door. "Better get to it."

"Um… ok." Brooklyn said in a small voice standing up and making his way out of Johnny's office to his desk, legs weak with relief.

He relief was tainted with an undertone of worry for Kai. Brooklyn didn't know him that well but missing out on a day of work without calling just seemed out of character. He looked despondently at the pile of paper on Kai's desk. The pile that had just become _his _responsibility.

Brooklyn looked at the picture of Rei on Kai's desk. _Do you know where he is?_

_-o-_

In his office, Johnny reached for his phone and quickly tapped in the number of the new secretary. "Oliver? I when you find time can you call Kai Hiwatari's house and let him know that if he ever doesn't turn up to work without a reason again I'm going to fire his arse?"

He listened as the green-haired man gave his affirmative and hung up.

_-o-_

Kai slowly made himself a coffee, ignoring the clock glaring out of his microwave. He jumped when his phone began to blare at him but ignored it, not wanting to talk to anyone.

He frowned as Oliver's voice blared through the house via the answering machine, listening to the message.

_Fuck you_. He thought calmly, pouring himself his coffee and moving to sit at the table next to his wall of Rei.

He had more important things to do than pander around to Johnny's beck and call.

Kai took a gulp of his coffee, ignoring how it scalded his throat on the way down. It was something else to think about. Something that was not related to Mariah.

The pink-haired girl had haunted his dreams, always there to whisk Rei away from Kai. Kai growled as he remember Mariah's smug smirk as she stole Rei away from him in dream after dream. It didn't matter the setting of the dream, she was always there, laughing at Kai.

Kai looked deeply into his coffee, trying to forget how easily the Mariah in his dreams had taken Rei from him again and again.

He also couldn't forget how easily Rei had been entrapped by her, not giving Kai a second thought as she led him away.

Kai sighed in frustration and took another large gulp of his coffee, making a face at the bitter taste. He didn't want to move today. He was afraid that, if he did, his nightmares about Mariah would come true.

Kai turned to look at his wall of photographs, his expression softening as he ran his eyes over each one, feeling the calming influence of Rei wash over him. If he didn't go to the café to watch over the Chinese man she might do just that.

Kai shuddered at the thought and stood up, determination in his eyes as he began to get ready to go to the café. She couldn't be allowed to have Rei. Not if Kai could help it. He needed to be there to protect Rei from the pink-haired girl.

_-o-_

"…So…" Mariah asked, looking hopefully at the front doors. "Do you think he'll come back?"

"…" Bryan stared at the permanent markers underneath the bench, wondering if Rei would mind if he vandalised something.

"Bryan? Do you think he will?"

_Anything_.

Rei popped his head out of the kitchen doors, looking at Mariah. "Has he come yet?" He asked with a grin.

"No!" Mariah told him with a pout. "You _did_ remember to offer him another free coffee didn't you?" She asked.

Rei sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's like the twelfth time you've asked me that question."

"So? Answer it."

"Ok. For the twelfth time, I did give him the offer of free coffee again." He sighed and stepped out of the kitchen, letting the door shut behind him. "It now depends on whether or not he can get here today." He told her, moving to lean on the front counter.

Mariah's eyes widened as she considered the possibility. "Do you think he really might not come?" She asked in a small voice.

Rei sighed and tousled Mariah's hair, earning a squeal of indignation from her. "I'm sure he will but we'll have to wait and see, ok?"

Mariah arched an eyebrow at Rei. "Are you patronising me?"

"Yes." Rei told her, face serious.

Mariah made a face at Rei. "Arsehole." She said flatly, a grin betraying her.

Rei let out a startled laugh. "You know, you only started _yesterday _shouldn't you be a little more respectful of your boss?"

Mariah shrugged. "Yesterday my boss had the hangover of a lifetime. Made him seem a bit less than imposing."

Rei deflated. "I can be imposing." He said dejectedly.

Mariah ruffled his hair in the same way he had done to her only a minute ago. "You're so cute when you lie." She told him, not noticing Kai walking into the café.

Kai's eyes narrowed as she heard Mariah's comment. He was right to have been worried about Rei. She was _already_ trying to take him away.

Kai controlled himself as he walked towards the counter. As fun as it would be to see Mariah's face as he gallantly whisked Rei away he didn't think that would be the best way to go about things.

Mariah noticed Kai and smiled, vaguely recognising the bluenette from the day before. "Hi! Can I help you?"

"Bitter, right?" Rei asked with a smile.

Kai's eyes widened in shock. Rei had remembered what he ordered. _Rei_ had remembered what type of coffee he enjoyed. _Rei_ truly did know of Kai's existence. It wasn't just Kai's mind playing tricks on him.

Kai stopped himself from melting into a puddle of Rei adoration and forced himself to answer. "Yes."

Ignoring just _how_ pathetic his reply had sounded, Kai stared firmly at the counter, not wanting to press his luck any further.

Rei blinked. 'Ok then' he mouthed to himself before turning to Mariah. "Do you know which of the beans we sell are the bitterest yet?" He asked.

"Uh… no." Mariah said flatly.

Rei sighed. "I'm setting you homework then- by the end of the month I want you to have tasted _all_ of the coffee in this café and to label them all- 1 being bitter and 10 being… whatever else coffee is. Ok? Ok." Rei grinned and reached for the correct coffee. "Sorry, Mariah only started yesterday."

Kai nodded in what he hoped was an understanding way. "That's fine."

Rei smiled again as he quickly and efficiently made Kai's coffee. It wasn't rush hour and they could afford direct service. "Here you go." He said as he finished making Kai's coffee. He pushed the cup toward the bluenette. "Enjoy."

Kai nodded and took the cup from the bench. "Thanks." He mumbled, still in shock that Rei had not only recognised him but knew the type of coffee that he liked. He numbly paid for his beverage as his thought processes went wild.

_That has to mean something_. He thought, renewing his determination to stop Mariah from getting her claws into his Rei.

For he was Kai's Rei.

Even if Rei himself only knew that subconsciously.

_-o-_

"What the _hell_ are you doing?"

"Cutting sandwiches."

"Like an _idiot _would cut them"

"Lucky that I'm copying what you do every day then, hm?" Tala asked snippily.

Lee sighed, exasperated. "I've _never_ cut sandwiches into squares." He said, reaching for the pile Tala had just painstakingly finished cutting and eating one of them. "These are _useless_ now. You have to cut them into triangles."

Tala scowled. "Who died and made you God all of a sudden?" He asked.

"God did. Now do you see that pile of sandwiches?" Lee asked, gesturing to a pile on Tala's right. "I spent all morning making those- they are all perfect. Do _not_ screw them up because you don't know what a triangle looks like."

Tala bit his lip, trying to control his temper and not throw his imperfect _square_ sandwiches at Lee. "You know that this could be considered discrimination against squares?" He asked.

"You know, I don't care?" Lee asked in the same tone of voice.

Tala rolled his eyes. "You know, I hate you a little?"

"You know, I _still_ don't care? Triangles, _now_"

_-0-_

Kai smiled to himself as he drank the last of the coffee Rei had prepared for him. It was getting around to lunchtime and the café was beginning to fill up. Kai watched as people began to file into the café, faces that were unfamiliar to him. His lunch break normally occurred after these people had left. It was interesting to see another side of the Gatling's clientele.

Not that the clientele was that exciting anyway but any change was good.

Kai wondered absently how many of the people in the café had come for the Chinese man who was now busy trying to make the coffee machine run at double capacity.

He scanned the interior tables and caught at least half of the female population subtly watching Rei through side glances and compact mirrors as they tidied up their appearance. He even noticed, with some amusement, one woman whose date was obviously trying to distract her attention away from Rei's figure as he moved gracefully around behind the counter.

Kai let out a derisive breath and rolled his eyes. Didn't they know that they would never have Rei? Why did they even bother wasting their time?

Rei was too good for them.

Kai rested his head on his hand and watched as the line to the counter grew as time went on. He also noticed with some satisfaction that as the line grew longer Mariah's face went from being mildly pretty to showing signs of stress. It was a heartening sight for Kai.

Mariah, however, wasn't having quite as much fun as Kai. "_Rei_" She said, her voice tight and high pitched with stress. "I need help."

Rei grimaced as some hot coffee splashed, burning his hand. "Ow." He said emphatically before writing a number on a piece of paper and placing it on the saucer of the cup. He put the cup down with the rest of the undelivered orders and exhaled a frustrated breath of air. "I'll see what I can do." He told Mariah before walking away from his post and towards the kitchen doors.

"Soon would be nice." Mariah said before she turned to help yet another customer.

Rei rolled his eyes and opened the kitchen door, poking his head into it. "Santa, I need your elf."

"_Take him_" Lee said, not looking at Rei. "He has no appreciation for _anything_."

Tala looked at Lee and raised an eyebrow. "He is _no_ Santa."

"He's the evil Santa from hell _but _he's still Santa." Rei said firmly. "He's giving you the gift of time off there to come and serve out here."

"My belief in Santa was just reaffirmed." Tala said, quickly putting down his knife and almost running toward Rei.

"He is _so_ getting a lump of coal." Lee grumbled, shaking his head.

_-o-_

Kai stood up from his table and walked out of the café. His seat was taken before he had even taken three steps away from it. _Crazy people_ Kai thought wryly.

As much as he didn't want to leave Rei, the Chinese man might notice that he hadn't left the café for hours, and _that_ Kai couldn't afford. He didn't want Rei to be afraid of him before he had an opportunity to explain himself. Then Rei would come to understand why Kai did what he did.

That is, he would unless Mariah poisoned his mind first. Kai just had to hope that Rei was more resilient than that. He needed more time.

Kai stopped in his tracks, vaguely remembering another reason why he had come into the café. He turned around and began fumbling through his pockets, finding the camera he had stashed in there earlier. He took it out and, allowing the crowd to hide his actions took a few pictures of Rei as the Chinese man walked around the tables, serving everyone their coffee.

Now, Kai was finished.

_-o-_

Kai walked into his apartment much later and sighed as he shut the door. His day of freedom had been wonderful and productive. He had seen Mariah's danger for himself. He knew that the pink haired girl's threatening presence was not just in his dreams but also in real life.

As scary as that was, it was worth knowing.

Kai looked down at the envelope he had picked up from his mailbox before he had entered the building. He frowned as he saw the company logo on it. _A bill?_ He wondered, ripping open the top of the envelope and unfolding the paper within.

Kai grimaced as his suspicions were confirmed. He threw the envelope into the bin and the contents on to his kitchen bench where it joined a growing pile of similar such envelopes.

_Great, just great._ Kai thought, resigned. He ran his hand through his hair, mentally swearing at his grandfather. Bills had never been a problem before.

Kai noticed the light on his answering machine blinking and he moved over to press the button to make it play.

'_You have one message" _The mechanical voice echoed throughout the house.

"_Message one." _It said unhelpfully.

"_This is Oliver from McGregor Enterprises just calling to inform you that you missed work today without any explanation. Mr McGregor wishes you to know that you are being issued a formal warning. Any further warnings will result in your termination from this company's employment rolls. Feel free to contact us at any time if you have a legitimate reason for your absence. Thank you."_

Kai sighed as the beep signalling the end of the message sounded. "Shit."

* * *

Please tell me what you think.


	12. Sleepless

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Sleepless

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **For those who're wondering, yes, I did steal this chapter's title from Loveless.

Sorry for the late update again- though in consolation it's a long one. There's a somewhat screwy format to it because most of the chapter is actually a flashblack and I didn't want to put the majority of a chapter in italics. Apart from that I'm rather proud of this chapter. It seems to accomplish something! Yay!

Enjoy

* * *

Rei stared at his ceiling blankly, trying to figure out whether he was actually awake or in some sort of asleep-and-dreaming-with-eyes-open state.

The almost silent night combined with the dull glow of the city lights filtering under his curtain and giving the room a sheen of light made the atmosphere around him almost seem ethereal- giving credence to the latter theory.

Rei blinked slowly, trying not to shatter the mood of the night around him. He rolled on to his side to stare blankly at his alarm clock glaring an ungodly hour of the morning at him.

A soft sigh escaped Rei's lips as he rolled again on to his back. The glaring numbers from his clock had shattered his illusion.

He was horribly, inexorably, cruelly and utterly awake.

Rei swore softly to himself, frustrated with his inability to fall asleep. _This sucks_. He decided, turning his head to confirm that a full minute had passed since he had last checked the clock.

He understood why he couldn't get to sleep- he just didn't like it. Sometimes the ability to think about the past day just wasn't worth it.

It had all started off rather ordinarily, or so Rei had thought. Unlike himself, every other employee of the café had been early.

That was where the problems had started.

_-o-_

_-Flashback-_

Tala yawned as Bryan parked their car behind the café. "Why do we do this again?" He asked plaintively.

"Do what?"

"_This." _Tala said, gesturing to both the café and the near pre-dawn hour. "It's insane and weird and just… _bad_."

"Don't want to face Lee?" Bryan asked, a small smirk gracing his lips.

"Got it in one." Tala said sulkily. "I thought after a while he might become more _civil_ or _human_ or _something_."

"It's Lee." Bryan said flatly. "He's a bastard. The sooner you accept that the sooner you can stop whining about something _you_ got yourself into."

Tala sighed and opened the door of their car, letting the out air from the inside out and immediately chilling the interior of the car. "You're an arse sometimes, you know that? You're meant to be supportive." He huffed and began to get out of the car.

Bryan rolled his eyes before making a decision. He reached out to grab the redhead's arm and pulled him backwards into the car, accompanied by a yelp of surprise.

Tala landed sideways on his seat, his legs still outside the car and his head resting on the glovebox. He made a face and shuffled sideways, trying to get rid of the seatbelt cover digging into his back.

Bryan smirked, amused, and leant down to place a firm, upside-down, kiss on the redhead's lips. He pulled back slightly and contemplated Tala silently.

"You know, you just made it _that_ much harder for me to leave here and go to the hellhound."

Bryan smirked. "You're welcome." He said lightly, still studying Tala's face. "Hellhound?" He asked as the second portion of what Tala said had sunk in. "That's… inventive." He moved to brush his lips against Tala's forehead and stayed there so his lips barely grazed the redhead's forehead. "I like it."

Tala smiled at the tickling sensation he got when Bryan spoke. He rubbed his nose against Bryan's "I'm glad you approve." He murmured.

Bryan smirked and moved the fraction it took for him to place a second kiss gently on Tala's forehead. He sat back up fully and pushed Tala into a seated position. "Leave." He commanded.

Tala blinked at the sudden change of mood – then pouted when he realised that it meant he had to move. "But I don't want to." He complained.

Bryan rolled his eyes and opened his own car door. "But you're going to." He said flatly.

Tala sighed and clambered out of the car, unhindered by Bryan this time. "You _so_ owe me for that." he grumbled.

Bryan smirked as he rounded the front of the car. "We were planning to go out tonight?"

"Not any more," Tala assured his lover, heading towards the back of the café.

Bryan rolled his eyes and followed the redhead, glad that they had come early. "Isn't staying in for a week considered to be a _bad_ thing in some places?" He asked.

Tala scoffed. "_Hell_ no." He said confidently.

"Can we please stop talking about this _now_?" A new voice asked behind Tala and Bryan.

Tala jumped around, eyes wide in shock. "Wha-?" He asked intelligently.

Lee raised an eyebrow at the redhead. "There are many things I know about you that I don't want to. I draw the line at knowing when you get your nooky."

Tala blinked.

Bryan blinked.

Lee walked past them and opened the back door of the café. "And you're _so_ going to regret that hellhound comment."

_-o-_

"Rei…_Rei_…_REI!_"

Rei started and turned around. "What?" He asked, seeing Lee in the doorway.

"What were you doing?" Lee asked.

Rei shrugged and gestured to the mound of paper on his desk. "Boring stuff. You?"

"Hiding from Tala." Lee said nonchalantly. "I was _so_ in the wrong place at the wrong time this morning."

"What happened?"

"I kind of… caught Tala and Bryan being fairly _cosy_ this morning. Neither really appreciated it."

Rei blinked. "Eh? Tala and Bryan?"

Lee nodded. "I know what you mean. I've had an inkling about them since that night we all went out but I wasn't sure until this morning. I can't actually remember a lot of that night."

"Tala and Bryan?" Rei asked again, still trying to work out what Lee was saying. "They're… _together_?"

"What? You didn't know?"

"Obviously."

"Not even a little bit?"

"They're hardly affectionate towards each other when I'm around. In fact… I think the closest Bryan gets to being affectionate is tolerance."

Lee nodded sagely. "You have a point there." He pause for a second, considering the possibilities. "…That's not a problem, is it?"

_-o-_

"So… I heard about you and Bryan." Rei said awkwardly.

Tala's eyes widened and his hands ceased their seemingly endless chore of slicing food-in-general. He looked over at Rei cautiously. "What about me and Bryan?" He asked, slowly putting the knife down.

"That you…" Rei gestured helplessly. "Are…" He stopped, looking at Tala and silently pleading for the redhead's assistance.

Tala's eyes narrowed instantly. "Is there a problem with that?" he asked venomously.

Rei blinked, unsure of how to react to the anger in Tala's voice. "Uh…"

Tala's eyes narrowed further- a feat that was apparently still possible. "I can't believe this." He muttered, looking down at the work he had completed before looking back up at Rei. "Do you want us to leave?" He asked with a new tone of resignation in his voice. "Is that it?"

Rei's eyes widened. "What? No!" He said, surprised at Tala's question. "This place would seriously die without you! I need you here."

Tala relaxed slightly before a thought occurred to him and his eyes narrowed once more "I'm not leaving him."

This time it was Rei's turn to narrow his eyes in anger. "Why the hell would I want you to do that?" He asked before drawing a breath. "_Or_ fire you, for that matter?"

"Why are you asking about me and Bryan?" Tala retorted. "Why does it matter?"

Rei paused, considering the question. "Because I thought we were friends?" He tried.

"And that entitles you to know everything about me?"

"Why are you so defensive?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I asked first."

Tala looked away from Rei before nodding. "Whatever." He conceded. "Bry and I have been fired from our last two jobs because of our relationship."

Rei frowned. "Isn't that illegal? Besides, both of them gave you good references."

Tala shrugged. "The promised to do that as long as we left." Tala ignored Rei's first question and fixed the Chinese man with a look. "Now… Why do you want to know?"

Rei shrugged. "I just wanted to know why you didn't trust me enough to tell me." He said with finality. "Guess I know now." He muttered with a tight smile.

Tala returned the smile, equally uncomfortable. "Guess you do."

Rei nodded slowly before glancing at a clock on the wall of the kitchen. He turned around abruptly and began to walk toward the door leading to the main café area.

Lee walked back into the kitchen from Rei's office/hideaway room. "Y'know, Rei, I never realised how much _shit_ goes into running this joi- Hey- Where are you going?" He asked, noticing Rei's rapid retreat.

"To lunch with your sister." Rei replied smoothly before disappearing through the doors and leaving a bemused Tala and a thoroughly confused Lee.

_-o-_

_-Real Time-_

Kai glared at his alarm clock- willing it to go off and end the hours he was obligated to lie in bed and pretend to try and fall asleep

At least that would relieve the boredom.

Kai rolled over to glare at the opposite wall, unable to get the events of the previous day out of his head.

He growled under his breath and sat up, throwing the doona cover off his legs.

Kai rubbed his eyes as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He looked over at the dark shadows on the opposite side of his bed, barely visible in the darkness of the night. He smiled fondly as the shadows merged and melded together to form the silhouette of a sleeping Rei

"I forgive you." Kai murmured before standing up, giving up any hope of sleep.

_-o-_

_-Flashback-_

Kai watched Rei and Mariah leave the café with a sinking feeling of both jealousy and sadness. His nightmares had come true.

Without thinking about what he was doing, Kai stood and, leaving behind his barely touched cup of coffee, followed the pair outside.

"So… why did you drag me out here?" Mariah's voice filtered across the crowd to Kai's listening ears.

_Good Question_ Kai thought darkly, skilfully weaving through the crowd in pursuit of the quickly moving couple in front of him.

Rei smiled slyly and leant down to whisper in Mariah's ear something that Kai couldn't hear.

He could, however, see Mariah's immediate reaction, pulling away from Rei and grinning like a loon. "_Really_?" She asked an octave or two higher than usual as they strolled across a road at an intersection guarded by traffic lights.

Kai was forced to stop, as the light watching over the road Mariah and Rei had just crossed turned red. He swore quietly at the traffic rushing past and tried vainly to keep Rei and Mariah in sight as they walked away, blissfully unaware of Kai's attention.

Kai watched with a growing frustration as Rei said something else to Mariah and she giggled, blushing.

_Bitch_. He thought vehemently, almost running across the road at the first break in traffic.

He reached the side of the road Rei was on and looked through the crowd, trying to spot Rei and the _thing_ he refused to give name to.

He couldn't see them.

Kai resisted the urge to throw a temper tantrum before turning on his heel and storming back through the crowd.

He had seen enough anyway.

_-o-_

"Are you sure?" Mariah asked, halfway between anxiety and excitement.

"Of course I'm sure-" Rei assured her. "'Else I wouldn't be wasting my lunchtime on showing you."

Mariah raised an eyebrow. "It's ten o'clock. Hardly Lunchtime."

"About the time he's due to emerge from…" Rei paused, scanning the long residential street they had walked to. "There." He pointed to a small apartment halfway along the street where a large blonde figure was walking out on to the street.

Mariah squinted at the distant figure and the apartment block he'd emerged from. "Is that-?"

"-Where Spencer lives." Rei finished for her.

"How did you find out?" Mariah asked, her eyes still following Spencer as he proceeded to check his mail.

Rei shrugged. "I have my ways." He said simply with a small smirk, silently praising Tala's uncanny ability to find everything about anyone within five minutes.

Mariah frowned, looking over at Rei. "Isn't that a bit… stalker-like?"

Rei blinked in surprise. "Er… N-ARGH!"

Rei landed heavily in the bushes adjacent to the path he'd just been standing on. Mariah quickly followed him, holding her finger to her lips. "Shut up!" She whispered. "He's coming this way!"

Rei looked skyward, silently praying to whatever deity was out there to give him strength. "And you call _me_ a stalker." He muttered as he began to sit up.

"Down!" Mariah commanded, surprisingly effectively considering her whispered tone. She placed her hand firmly on Rei's chest and forced him back to the ground. "Stay!"

_I do _not_ envy Spencer_. Rei thought, as he obligingly lay flat in the dirt, Mariah adopting a similar position beside him.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, long enough for Rei to be bitten by ants twice, before Mariah sighed in relief. Taking it as a sign Spencer had passed, Rei stood up quickly, brushing himself down to rid himself of any excess antage.

"Where do you think he was going?" Mariah asked, standing up and stepping carefully out on to the pathway again and beginning the painful process of de-foliaging herself.

Rei sighed as he carefully stepped through the bushes. "The café."

Mariah froze in her movements. "What? How could you possibly know that?"

"I invited him to come in about-" Rei checked his watch. "-Ten minutes."

Mariah blinked. "So this whole excursion…"

"Was just so you could tell Lee where to pick you up after you confess your true feelings to him etcetera etcetera." Rei told her with a mischievous smirk.

Mariah coloured and made a face at Rei. "You're a bonafide _arse_." She told him emphatically before realising _exactly_ where Spencer was heading. "Shit! I have to get there before he does!" She took off at a dead run, already trying to figure out if there were any shortcuts she could use.

Rei rolled his eyes and followed at a much more leisurely pace. _Strange Girl_.

_-o-_

"Enrique… you're a psycho." Brooklyn said disbelievingly.

The blonde grinned. "I know! Ollie told me that the next thing I should try is breeding mutant, killer chickens."

"After taking him sky-diving on a first date I have no doubt you will." Brooklyn told him incredulously before frowning for a second. "Could you actually do it?" He wondered aloud.

Enrique looked at Brooklyn, trying to gauge if he was joking, but before he could answer he was interrupted by a raging dark cloud of murderous despair.

"Kai! You're back!" said Enrique, failing to notice Kai's 'cloud' status.

Kai ignored him and sat at his desk, his mind still churning with ideas on how best to dispatch a certain pink-haired Rei-stealer.

"Kai?" Enrique tried again, beginning to realise that it possibly wasn't the best time to attempt to make contact.

When he was ignored again, Enrique shot Brooklyn a look and stood up. "I'm going to go and do that _thing_." He announced before making good his escape from Kai's dark aura.

Brooklyn blinked at his abandonment. _Great. Just great._ He thought, sarcastically, turning back to his work, trying to look as small as possible.

Kai ignored Brooklyn and began determinedly typing on his computer and trying not to scoff aloud at the Tate's spinning tops business venture. They had finally realised that spinning tops just weren't going to cut it so they had added into the formula an idea of magic beasts living inside the tops. There had even been talk of a TV show.

Kai sighed as the familiar glare of the computer screen was clouded over by the vision of Rei and Mariah on their lunch date. He shut his eyes only to have the apparition follow him into his head.

Kai stood up abruptly, making Brooklyn jump. "Getting coffee." He muttered before walking away from his desk. As he stepped out from behind his desk he bumped the corner and, cursing quietly to himself, he limped toward their small kitchen, ignoring the sound of breaking glass behind him.

Brooklyn watched Kai leave before tentatively reaching out to pick up the picture frame that had fallen. It was strange that Kai had walked away from his desk after bumping it, let alone after he had broken something. Normally, whenever Kai left his desk he took great pains to have it as tidy and as orderly as possible.

Brooklyn's hand reached the frame and he picked it up, being careful not to cut himself on the glass that had been holding the picture in. The frame came away cleanly, leaving the picture it once contained to sit on the broken glass.

Brooklyn put the frame carefully to the side and picked up the photo. He frowned when he saw it was the photo of Rei.

He mentally slapped himself- Rei's photo was the only personal thing that Kai kept on his desk.

Which begged the question even further. Kai must have known what had broken- why had he walked away?

Brooklyn frowned as he felt a lump of cardboard underneath the photo. He slid the separate object from under Rei's photo, his frown deepening as he looked at it.

It was a much dog-eared business card for a café or restaurant named the Gatling. He scanned the card, thoroughly confused until he came to a line that explained all.

Proprietor: Rei Kon

Brooklyn grinned. _Kai keeps knick-knacks. He's human._

"What are you doing? Where's Kai?"

Brooklyn looked up at his second storm cloud of despair for the day, Johnny. "Huh?" He asked intelligently.

"_Don't_ make me repeat myself." Johnny said darkly.

"Um…" Brooklyn looked around, trying to find an out for himself.

"He better not be still on his bloody lunch break." Johnny grumbled murderously.

"Um…" Brooklyn said again, unsure of what to say.

Johnny had explicitly explained the Tate case to both Kai and Brooklyn that morning. More than that, he had explicitly explained that the entirety of their case had to be completed by that afternoon or the contract was off.

It was Brooklyn's private theory that Kai had been the one charged with the task of finishing off all of the money business because Johnny wanted to either have the amusement of watching the bluenette sweat or the euphoria that he would feel if Kai failed, giving the redhead a reason to fire him.

It had infuriated Johnny when he realised that Kai had left for an early lunch.

Kai walked back toward his desk with a cup of coffee and a slightly better frame of mind. He had a vague plan to make Rei understand.

"Kai!" Johnny said, spotting the bluenette. "What the hell are you doing? I told you I want the Tate's finances within this company to be sorted. I want a _comprehensive_ quote of how much it will cost them to even get this thing off the ground. _Comprehensive. _I want it down to the cost of the catering on the ad-shoot.

"The Tate's are a family with _money_, unlike yours. Money they want to give to _this_ company. Do you understand me? Money that is vital to keeping us from going under. And you take an early lunch! Obviously you don't understand the gravity of the situation. This is the biggest contract this company has ever even come close to. Every other department has been working overtime to make sure this goes through.

"Except for _you,_ that is. If this thing doesn't happen the blame will rest squarely on _your_ shoulders and don't think that I'll hesitate on placing that blame.

"Do we have an understanding?" Johnny finished, face flushed.

Kai slowly put his cup of coffee down, his plan for Rei slowly reforming in his mind. "I quit." He said quietly.

Johnny's eyes narrowed. "_What?_"

"I quit." Kai said again, ignoring the image of unpaid bills dancing through his head at the words. Rei was more important.

"You _can't_."

"I just did." Kai said simply before turning and walking purposefully away from Johnny, his desk, and his picture of Rei.

"Are you forgetting?" Johnny called after him. "I was the _only_ one who'd employ you after what happened with your family. _No one_ in this city will ever employ you. I'll make sure of that."

Kai ignored him and continued to walk away, pausing only to check the clock at reception.

He still had time enough to spend the afternoon at the Gatling.

_-o-_

_-Real Time-_

Kai sighed as he sat at the table next to his Rei-wall. He looked up at the many pictures he had taken. He had added to his collection, taking candid picture of Rei at the café.

He studied the picture closest to him, one of Rei as he gave a child a large chocolate cookie. He had leant over the counter to hand over the cookie, the shirt he was wearing riding up at the back to show a sliver of skin in the process.

It was not this that the camera was focussed on, however. The camera had tried to capture the ever-present vibrancy and the life in Rei's eyes as he smiled down at the child.

Unfortunately, Kai's camera didn't have that ability. Rei's eyes appeared like the rest of the photo, 2D and frozen in time.

Kai ignored this fact and continued to study the picture.

The decision to quit his job had been an unplanned blessing in disguise. It allowed him to concentrate on the one important thing, rescuing Rei from Mariah's talons.

* * *

Please tell me what you think


	13. Hating You

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Hating You

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **Eh heh heh heh. I'm back? I'm sorry about the wait but have just discovered that senior school is NOTHING compared to year 12 where everything counts and if I fail in any way I will never get to university and become a second-rate circus clown with bad clown makeup.

And since I'm afraid of clowns I've decided that that path is seriously not for me.

I've also got another motive for releasing the chapter now. It's my birthday at the end of the week and so you can't threaten me with nonstop My Little Pony reruns for being so slow about that updating thing. Or at least that's the idea.

...Love me?

* * *

Kai sighed as he stepped into the shower and turned on the water, hoping that it would make him feel more alive. He closed his eyes and tried to lose himself in the warmth of the water hitting him.

His sleepless night had left him feeling like crap with some shit on the side. However, whenever he dared to venture back into his bed to try and sleep his mind had been plagued with visions of Mariah taking his Rei away from him.

'_You wouldn't let that happen, would you?'_ The voice of Rei asked over the sound of the shower. '_You would protect me, wouldn't you?' _the voice asked again after a pause.

Kai opened his eyes to see the hazy figure of Rei in the steam caused by the water, unnervingly fully clothed yet not getting wet.

The figure moved closer, its outline becoming more blurred as it moved closer to Kai. '_Wouldn't you?'_ It asked a note of hurt in its voice.

Kai blinked, the hot water beginning to burn his skin. _This isn't real_. He tried to tell himself. _Rei's not here, you know it._ He reached for the hot water faucet and turned it up, trying to reach the clarity of thought that once had only required the water to be tolerably hot.

Kai watched as the blurred figure stepped back, its features becoming more defined in the new haze of smoke. '_Kai?' _It asked; making the bluenette shiver as his name passed the lips of Rei for the first time, real or imagined. '_Don't you love me anymore?'_

This time, Kai found his voice. "I-" He started. "O-of course." He stammered, pressing his back against the blessedly cool glass of the shower wall. "I just…"

'_You just?'_ Rei asked, hurt still evident in his voice as he moved closer to Kai, this time his features remaining defined.

"I just…don't know how." Kai said, looking away from Rei's face and into the steam surrounding him.

'_Don't lie.'_ Rei admonished gently.

Kai looked up into the eyes of the vision-Rei and lost himself briefly in the golden depths he had so often tried to capture on camera. "But I don't want to hurt you." He said quietly. "I love you."

The eyes softened and Kai felt a ghost hand run down his cheek to rest on his shoulder lightly. '_Prove it_.' Rei's voice challenged before Kai's hand reached for the hot water faucet again, turning it up so the steam overwhelmed him and the ghost Rei.

Kai gasped as the pure hot water hit his skin and coughed as the water-laden air filled his lungs. He reached for the door to the shower and struggled with it for a few seconds before it opened, letting the cold air of the outside into the shower. Kai coughed again as the unbearably hot and moist air in his lungs gave way to bitingly cold.

Kai blinked as the change of temperature made his world spin and his knees weak. He collapsed in an untidy heap, barely registering the pain of the fall as his world faded into black.

_-o-_

For once, Rei was grateful for his cursed alarm.

Rei sighed as he let the annoying beep of his alarm wash over him, chasing away the fear of his nightmare.

At least, he thought it had been a nightmare. There was nothing else that could explain the sense of fear that still clung to his body but he couldn't actually remember what about the dream had actually frightened him.

Rei hit his alarm, silencing it's cries for attention. He sighed as the expected tiredness made itself known. He'd only managed to fall asleep a few hours before.

_And I had a nightmare_. He thought grumpily, rolling off his bed and onto his pile of pillows. _Figures._

Rei sat in his pile for a second before sighing and forcing himself to stand. He physically shook himself to try and shake off the lingering fear.

His alarm began beeping again.

Rei growled and lashed out at it, knocking both it and a glass of water off his bedside table.

He grumbled as he scooped up the clock and placed it roughly back on his table. He looked at the glass on the ground, innocently floating in the puddle of water surrounding it. He looked away, taking the 'I can't see it, it doesn't exist' approach.

He noted that the face of his alarm clock was now blinking with nothing that resembled numbers.

"_Perfect_" He muttered, walking towards his coffee machine with purpose. He turned on the machine and leant on his kitchen counter, closing his eyes and rubbing them.

He had to appear somewhat alive.

_-o-_

"You look dead." Lee said flatly as Rei walked into the café.

Rei made a face at the chef. "You're so kind." He said sarcastically as he threaded his way through the stacked tables and chairs in the front of the café on autopilot.

Tala popped up behind the counter of the café where he'd been doing some very important organisation of the pens. He started when he saw Rei's face. "I hate to agree with Lee..." The redhead grinned when Rei shot him a glare.

"I seriously should just fire you all." Rei muttered, closing his eyes and rubbing them as they burned from lack of sleep.

"You wouldn't seriously do that? Would you?" Mariah asked from where she was struggling to move a table to the outside courtyard.

"Just the two comedians." Rei said, rather pleased that he'd had enough cognitive ability to come up with a name for the dynamic duo.

Mariah smiled as Bryan moved to help her with the stubborn table. "Well that's alright then." She said with a smirk, ignoring the glare her brother directed at her.

"Isn't _Spencer_ coming again today?" Lee shot back, earning himself an instantly tomato-faced Mariah.

"Shut up!" She said as she let go of the table Bryan had been helping her with. It landed on the Russian's foot, giving way to an increasingly violent and imaginative string of curses.

"She's hasn't shut up about it all night." Lee said with a smirk, ignoring Bryan and watching the pink haired girl's face turn an even deeper shade of red.

"Seriously?" Tala asked as he pressed the mug of coffee he'd made for Rei into the Chinese man's hands. "That's kind of cute!"

"Isn't it?" Lee asked, forgetting who he was talking to.

Rei just blinked, gripping on to his hot mug as he felt a headache forming. "I'm going into my office." He muttered, taking a sip from his scalding cup.

When not even a little bit of a coffee buzz graced his system Rei scowled. "This is what happens when you drink too much of this crap." He muttered under his breath as he pushed through the doors joining the café to the kitchen.

Rei inhaled deeply, trying to ground himself in the smells of the kitchen getting ready for the day. He made a beeline for his office.

_-o-_

Rei sighed as he flopped into his chair. He'd made sure to buy the most comfortable chair he could find when he had set up his office. He had never been more grateful for his forethought.

The Chinese man shut his eyes as he felt the leather of his chair mould to the shape of his body. He relaxed against the headrest and tried to will his body to sleep.

"What's up?"

…Or not.

Rei cracked open one eye to regard Lee. "Ngrh." He answered, closing his eye again.

Lee rolled his eyes. "Seriously, what's up?"

"Tired." Rei muttered, refusing to open his eyes.

"No shit, Sherlock."

Rei's lips twitched into a half-smile and he opened his eyes to regard Lee. "I didn't sleep well last night." Rei bit his lip as the half-remembered fear of his nightmare washed over him. "Have you ever woken up and felt like something bad is going to happen?"

"Sure. It never does though. Bad things generally happen when you don't expect them."

Rei's half smile turned into a full one. "You better be right."

"Always am."

Rei rolled his eyes. "Narcissist." He paused for a second, considering something. "Shouldn't you be cooking or something?"

Lee shook his head with a derisive snort. "I have my pleb to do menial tasks like that."

"Your job's a menial task?"

"It is when I make Tala do it." Lee said with a wicked grin. "I get all the good jobs."

"Like?" Rei asked, faintly amused.

"I bake cakes."

Rei looked sideways at the cook, trying to gauge if he was joking, "You-"

"Bake cakes." Lee said with a nod.

Rei nodded slowly. "And… how long did you train to be a chef?"

Lee blinked as he considered the question. "Since I could string enough words together to convince my mother that I wouldn't cut of my pinkie with the butcher's knife."

"…And now you bake cakes."

"_Exactly_" Lee almost purred. "It's kind of like how you get to the pinnacle of your career and then you retire."

Rei nodded slowly, trying not to startle Lee with any sudden movements and restraining himself by making said sudden movements out of the door and as far away from the Chinese man as possible. "Right then…"

"Kind of like you're going to abandon sitting in here and moping while doing boring manager things and are going to go out there and be with _people_? You remember them? You'll like them." Lee assured, forcibly pulling Rei out of his comfortable comfortable chair.

Rei blinked at the subject change and the manoeuvre, trying to dig his heels in. "What? No! I-"

_-o-_

"Can I get you anything else with that?" Rei asked, trying to get the melancholy out of his voice.

"No thanks, love" The blonde, middle-aged woman in front of him said with a sickly smile. "I'm just fine."

"I'll bring you your coffee in a few minutes." Rei told her, scribbling down the woman's order and handing it to Bryan.

The lilac-haired man had proved to be in a foul mood after the table falling on his foot and the subsequent swearing rampage had been completely ignored so Rei had relegated him to operating the coffee machine.

Rei pulled forth a smile to greet the next customer in line. "How can I help you today?" He asked before stopping as he recognised the man in front of him as a regular. "Do you want your usual?" He asked.

Kai paused as he considered the question. "No."

Rei nodded. "Ok… what would you like?"

"What would you suggest?" Kai asked, daring to look up into Rei's eyes. He felt his breath catch in his throat and looked away quickly. The swirl of colours in the Chinese man's eyes was much more intense than any photograph could hope to capture. Kai forced himself to look back up at Rei and attempt a smile.

Rei coloured slightly at the question. "Uh…My favourite is the mocha." He admitted. "Would you like one?"

'Sounds good." Kai said, nodding, his confidence growing slightly. "Sweet tooth?" Kai asked, treasuring this new titbit of information. He had always known that Rei liked having copious amounts of sugar but had never seen him drink a mocha. Normally, Rei went for the more caffeinated beverages.

Rei flushed again. "Something like that." He said, handing Kai a number. "I'll bring it out to you when it's ready."

Kai accepted the number, his smile turning into a more confident smirk. "I'll be looking forward to it." He assured Rei, meeting the Chinese man's eyes again before turning and leaving to find a table.

Rei felt a cold bolt run through him at Kai's look and shook himself, trying to rid himself of the feeling. _I hate nightmares_. He though vehemently.

_You wouldn't have done that before_. Kai's Phantom Rei commented, sliding into the seat opposite the one Kai took.

_Before I didn't have a plan_. Kai thought, confident that Rei could hear him. _Now I do._

_To prove you love me? _Phantom Rei asked, putting both his elbows on the table and leaning on them.

Kai looked over at the real Rei and nodded imperceptibly. _I'll protect you_.

Rei waved Bryan to the counter, ignoring the poisonous glare he received from the lavender-haired man. "I'll look after the coffee for a while. Be _nice_." He warned as he took in the multitude of orders he was expected to make with only one machine.

_We seriously need to upgrade_. He thought as he began working through the orders methodically.

He really didn't want to be the one to give coffee to the man with the red eyes. Rei had enjoyed the man's flirting but right before he had turned away to find a seat the look he had given Rei was almost predatory.

Rei shuddered as he continued to operate the machine in front of him.

_-o-_

"ARGH!"

Rei looked up from where he was helping Bryan and Tala to clean the last of the day's mess to see Mariah staring at the door of the café minus a Spencer. She had been talking to the blond since he had come into the café just over an hour before.

"What?" He asked, frowning.

"He's going to Russia for a month to visit his mother and asked me for my mobile number!"

"So did you give it to him?" Tala asked.

"_No_" She wailed. "I only got my new phone a few days ago and I haven't learned the number yet!"

Tala rolled his eyes. "_Idiot_" He said with feeling. "Now he thinks you were just trying to let him down nicely. Don't you have your phone on you?"

Mariah shook her head forlornly. "It's recharging at home. I didn't think I'd need it today,"

Rei walked over to the counter, reached under it and fished out a scrap of paper. "You gave me this as soon as you get the phone, remember?" He said, holding up the scrap of paper with a hastily scribbled number on it. "I assume it's your number and not a phone sex line."

Tala squinted at the number before shaking his head. "Not any phone sex service I've use- heard of."

Rei looked at Tala, alarmed, before deciding that he didn't want to know and focussing back on Mariah. "It is, isn't it?"

Mariah gazing at the paper like it was pure gold was enough of an answer. Rei held the note out to her. "Go get him."

Mariah's eyes widened. "You serious?" She asked. At Rei's nod she half squealed and swooped in to kiss the Chinese man on the cheek and grab the number. "I love you, you know that?" She asked before taking off at a run

Partially hidden across the road from the café, Kai watched from where he'd been standing all afternoon. His eyes narrowed in outrage as Mariah kissed Rei. He couldn't hear their words but it was all too clear what was happening.

_Kai?_ Phantom Rei asked. _I thought you were going to protect me?_

Kai's gaze switched back to where Rei was turning bright red, his hand coming up to touch where Mariah's lips had touched him. "I promise" He murmured, hating himself and half hating the Rei that had extracted the promise from him.

He sighed and watched as Rei recovered and seemingly ordered everyone else back to work.

_-o-_

Rei sighed as he locked up the café for another night. Mariah hadn't returned so he could only imagine that good things had happened to her.

That _combined_ with Tala and Bryan making eyes at each other for the last half hour before making a decidedly quick exit had left Rei feeling slightly lonely.

Rei tucked his hands into his pockets as he turned towards home.

The small sound of a footstep on the path behind him was the only warning Rei received before a hard blow to the back of his neck sent his head snapping forward and Rei into unconsciousness.

Kai caught Rei and pulled the Chinese man into his arms. He was thankful for a second that one of Enrique's longer lasting fads had been with martial arts.

Kai sighed as he held the unconscious Rei in a loose embrace, brushing a few stray locks of hair out of the Chinese man's face. "I'll protect you." He murmured. "I promise."

* * *

Please tell me what you think

I'd like to thank all the nice people at Yahoo answers for trying to educate me in the technical aspects of how to knock someone out. They're really great and amazingly helpful.


	14. Hating Me

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Hating Me

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **-dies-

I didn't realise quite how long I had left this until I read the reviews for the last chapter and realised people were wishing me happy BIRTHDAY. Then I felt much remorse and sadness.

However, I'm actually quite happy with this chapter. I wrote about half of it within a week of posting the last and wrote the other half tonight XD. The rest of the time was spent staring at (I kid you not) ONE sentence and deciding how to go from there. Because it could have gone like crap or it could have gone how it went (If anyone can pick the sentence they get cookies)

This chapter also featured at some point in my frustration an ending from that sentence where both Kai and Rei were killed by the Kraken. That ending was, unfortunately, vetoed. But it lives on in my heart.

NOW For very exciting news! I was browsing mine library (as one is wont to do) and my eyes fell upon a book (as one's eyes tend to do in a library) And then I stopped. And then I loled.

_Obsession _by Julia Lawrinson

Go read it. Because it's great. NOTHING like this story but still great.

Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter and don't send me too many death threats for more updates. I finish school _for good_ in 6 weeks so don't go hoping before then. Because I have assignments up to my ears already and I don't want to fail. Because I'm like that.

* * *

Kai sighed as he slammed the door of his apartment and rested against it, Rei's inert form carried bridal-style in his arms. His nose wrinkled as he smelt the pungent smell of the alcohol he had splashed on to the front of Rei's shirt.

He had thought to buy a small bottle of the strongest smelling alcohol he could find before he had begun waiting for Rei outside the café and was glad that he had. Anyone who had the slightest concern for the Chinese man had approached and quickly backed away when they smelt the alcohol, giving Kai a sympathetic look before they lost interest.

Kai sighed and slid down the door until he sat on the floor with Rei's body clumsily resting on his lap and the Chinese man's head resting on Kai's shoulder. "You're safe now." He murmured into Rei's hair, running his hand through the hair that wasn't caught in the wrap Rei always styled his hair with. "I promise."

Upon receiving no response from Rei, Kai sighed again and stood, hefting Rei's weight and heading toward his bedroom and the only bed in his apartment.

He lay Rei's body down on the bed gently, arranging the pillows around Rei's head. "I'm sorry it happened like this." He said, admiring how, even while unconscious, Rei still managed to affect him. "It was the only way."

Kai looked up at his window and realised that night had fallen quite some time ago. He leant over and turned on his bedside light, unable to understand how he had been seeing before.

He shook his head and rose slowly, resisting the urge to run his hands through Rei's hair again just to convince himself that he had truly done what he had done.

He slowly exited the room, glancing backwards at Rei every second step or so. He could already feel the calming effect that Rei produced lessoning as he shut the door of his bedroom behind him.

"_Thank you." _His phantom Rei said as the click of the door shutting echoed through the apartment. "_You know you're doing the right thing_."

Kai nodded distractedly, ignoring the fact that, by rights, His phantom Rei should have disappeared. "That doesn't mean that it's not hard."

"_The right thing generally is the hard thing."_ The phantom figure agreed as it watched Kai key-lock the door to his apartment and stash the key in his pocket. Kai checked the door to make sure it couldn't be opened without the key and nodded in satisfaction.

"Can you just leave me alone?" He asked the phantom. "I've done what you wanted. I just need to think."

Kai cringed as he heard the pout in the phantom's voice. "_I thought you loved me,_" It said, looking at Kai sadly.

Kai rand his hands over his face and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "I do. I _promised_. I just need time to think without you getting me to confirm that to you every five minutes. I love you and I will do this for you. It's just _hard_. You have to give me some time to see if I have a choice."

"_You don't_." Rei warned. "_It has to be done_."

"There's always a choice." Kai said finally, flopping on to his couch. "Now will you go away for a bit?"

Kai closed his eyes, trying to focus his thoughts. It was hard without the aid of hot water or the more effective anaesthesia of Rei's presence. He scowled to himself and shook his head, trying to think clearly about what he was doing.

Failing, Kai rolled over on the couch with a disgruntled sigh. He folded his arms and rested them on the arm of the couch, glaring at the unassuming wall in front of him.

"_Having Fun?_" Rei's voice asked with a hint of wryness in it. "_You know there's no choice. Nothing to think about. You promised to protect me_."

Kai looked away from where his phantom stood in front of the wall he had been staring out. "I know." He said quietly. "I still want to see if there is a choice." He said finally. "I won't know until he wakes up."

Kai heard the exasperated sigh of Phantom Rei and closed his eyes, not wanting to be a part of it. He wanted a choice. He didn't like the option already presented to him. "I'm going back in with him." Kai announced to the empty room, standing and quietly padding his way to the bedroom door.

He opened the bedroom door quietly, expecting the room to be dark. He blinked when he saw the light was on before he realised he had left it on before leaving the room the first time. _Idiot_. He reprimanded himself, already feeling the muddle of his mind slowly start to fall into place at the sight of Rei.

The Chinese man lay exactly where Kai had left him, no movement except for the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest stirring him. Kai let out a small sigh of relief and turned off the light in the bedroom, leaving the room bathed in faint moonlight.

"I want to know if I can keep you safe." Kai said quietly, kneeling beside Rei on the floor and laying his head next to Rei's, careful not to disturb the Chinese man. "Would you let me?" He asked aloud, ignoring the cramp in his neck that was beginning to form.

The sound of Rei's quiet breathing filled the room in answer.

Kai sat up and smiled softly down at Rei, brushing a stray lock of hair out of his face and simply enjoying the feeling of being so close to the person he loved. He inhaled deeply, relishing in the unique mix of scents. He could smell the strong smell of the alcohol he had poured on to Rei's shirt front but underneath he could smell the familiar warm scent of the café and a much stronger scent of cooking that could only come from the café's kitchen, a place Kai had only seen in glimpses, he could also detect the faint, fruity scent of Rei's shampoo. However, underneath all of those scents was one Kai could only define as Rei's own unique one.

He leant down to place a soft kiss on Rei's forehead before he sat back on his heels simply admiring how the moonlight fell on the Chinese man's face. The image it created was far superior to anything his imagination could conjure up.

It was an image worth protecting.

Kai sighed and shuffled back awkwardly to sit down and brace his back against the wall of his bedroom. He brought his legs up so he could rest his arms on them comfortably and laid his head on his arms. He sighed softly as he felt the warm tendrils of sleep begin to take him.

_I can't see if I have choice until he wakes up._ Kai reasoned to himself as he allowed his body to fall into the dark abyss of sleep that he so desperately needed.

_-o-_

Rei woke up slowly, a killer headache alerting him to his semi-conscious state. He groaned softly as consciousness invaded and his headache grew more acute. Rei cracked open one eye, looking for his alarm clock to tell him what pre-dawn hour it was.

When he didn't see his clock Rei sat upright in alarm, his mind quickly taking in that the bed was softer than his, there weren't as many pillows as he generally had scattered on his bed, the different position of the bed and the fact that he was still fully clothed.

All factors pointing towards the obvious conclusion that this wasn't his home.

Rei's nose then picked up the pungent smell of alcohol coming from the front of his shirt. "What the hell?" He murmured as he struggled to remember what had happened.

He had helped Mariah with her Spencer issues and then…

Rei frowned as he tried to figure out what had happened after that. Surely it couldn't be normal that he couldn't remember anything after that. The smell of alcohol explained some memory loss and the headache but there were problems with that theory as well.

For one, his mouth didn't feel like a toilet.

Rei cautiously swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, trying to ignore the way the world spun as he did so. _Not good. Not good._ He thought as he flailed an arm to catch on to anything that would support him. Failing that, Rei collapsed in an undignified heap, startling the room's other occupant.

Kai opened his eyes when he heard the crash. "Rei?" He asked, shaking off the last vestiges of sleep. "_Rei_?" He asked again, uncurling from where he had been leaning against the wall and putting out a hand to try to find the Chinese man.

"Who are you?" Rei asked in a small voice as he sat up, leaning up against the bed he had woken up on. "I can't remember…" He trailed off, as he looked frantically around the room, trying to find the source of the voice in the dark room.

Kai's hand hit one of Rei's feet before it was hastily drawn away with a sharp gasp from the Chinese man. Kai drew his hand back carefully, trying not to startle Rei anymore. "It's ok…" He tried. "I won't hurt you."

"Who _are_ you?" Rei asked, trying to place the voice. He knew that he had heard it before but could not place from where.

"I'm…" Kai trailed off, unsure of what to say. "I'm Kai."

Kai watched as the shadow that was Rei's head nodded slowly. "Kai." He repeated, still trying to place a face to the voice. "...Is this your home, Kai?" Rei asked, leaning against the bed he has fallen off earlier.

Kai shook his head, unaware that Rei couldn't see him. "This is _our_ home"

Rei blinked and peered into the darkness that blanketed the world just before dawn, unable to see anything other than the vague shape of his companion. "Sorry?" He asked, controlling the note of panic in his voice.

Kai's face fell slightly. "You don't like it?" He asked before continuing without waiting for an answer. "I know it's not great but it's just until I can find us something that's away from this city- where it's safe.

Rei felt the sense of panic, dormant since his waking, rise again to grip his heart as he realised that Kai wasn't joking.

"...What about _my_ home?" Rei asked, this time unable to hide the panic making his voice rise a few notches.

"This _is_ your home." Kai said, confused. "Don't you understand?" He asked, shifting his position on the floor and stretching some of his aching muscles. "I can't protect you when you're out there. You're not safe."

Rei blinked. "What the hell does that mean?" He asked incredulously, shock and surprise even overriding the panic that had become a permanent feature in his stomach.

Kai's face fell at Rei's lack of understanding. "It's too dangerous outside for you. You're only safe when you're here with me, where I can protect you." Kai reached a hand out to touch the object of his obsession, trying to make the Chinese man realise that this _was_ the only way for Rei to remain safe.

Rei snatched himself away from Kai's touch as if the Russian's mere touch burned. He stood, ignoring the head spin he got as a result of the change of altitude, as his panic joined with anger at his captor. "I think I can decide what's safe for me and what isn't." He said with as much dignity and disdain as he could muster when facing an unknown adversary in a dark room. "I'm going to _my_ home now and want I don't want you to _ever_ bother me again, whoever you may be, Kai." He said firmly before heading in the direction he thought the bedroom door was.

Rei pulled open the door, slammed it, and, squinting against the sudden light, hurried toward the front door, only refraining from sprinting because of the sudden terrible need to hide his fear from the person in the other room.

"Rei!" Kai scrambled to his feet, ignoring the pain that came from sitting still for hours, and ran after the Chinese man.

"Rei!" He called again as he pulled open the bedroom door to see Rei reaching for the handle of the front door. "Don't!"

Rei's hand closed around the doorknob and twisted.

_Click_

He twisted again, putting both hands on the handle and fighting the lock, panic overtaking the need for dignity.

"Rei..." Kai said gently as he slowly approached the Chinese man. "You're not safe out there." He stopped a few metres from Rei. "You're only safe when you're here with me."

Rei stopped his efforts and turned with the air of a hunted animal facing its last seconds on Earth.

His eyes widened as he saw Kai. "...You?" He forced out of a throat suddenly much tighter than he remembered it to be as snatches of memories of his captor assailed him.

_Kai sitting in the corner of the café_

_Kai casually flirting with him_

_Catching Kai watching him as he waited in line_

_Seeing Kai through a haze of alcohol in a non-descript bathroom_.

"You..." Rei said again, his face a mask of confusion. "Why?" He asked faintly as he felt the events of the morning combined with the light-headedness borne of panic and the pain that had been assailing his head since he had regained consciousness.

Kai leapt forward to catch Rei as he fell into unconsciousness once more.

_-o-_

Lee poked his head out of the kitchen, the scents of the morning already wafting out around him. "Is Rei in yet?" He asked.

When Bryan shook his head Lee frowned. "He's never been this late..." He murmured more to himself than to anyone else. "Can you give him a call?" He asked.

_-o-_

The ring of the phone in Rei's apartment echoed through the empty hallways, unable to be heard by the Chinese man or his captor.

* * *

Please Tell me what you think


	15. Hating Us

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Hating Us

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **Ehehehehehe. So I was busy procrastinating uni work (as one is wont to do) and I found the majority of this chapter sitting around and gathering dust. I'm not sure WHY exactly but I figured I should probably finish it off... don't kill me for the unGodly delay? Please? I like my life.

Lots of people have asked me if I EVER intend to finish this and the answer is YES YES DEAR GOD YES! I'm just battling that monster called 'life' in order to do so. However, if anyone is in the mood to send me semi-abusive reminders I would totally be into that. Just let me know XD

Anyways, on with the chapter. Hope it was worth waiting for.

* * *

Brooklyn sat at Kai's former desk, perched uncomfortably on Kai's former chair feeling a headache grow as he stared at the column of numbers flashing at him on Kai's former computer.

_Is it any wonder I'm not feeling great about this?_ Brooklyn wondered despondently as he looked down at the hastily scribbled sign decrying the desk as his with as many stars and rainbows as could fit on the page courtesy of Enrique. It looked out of place on the bare landscape that was Brooklyn's stolen desk but he couldn't bring himself to throw it away. Though, that was probably more due to the influence of Enrique's puppy-eyes than any lasting attachment to the piece of paper.

Brooklyn jumped as his foot kicked the box sitting underneath his stolen desk. He hadn't known what to do with the few personal belongings Kai had left behind but had a feeling that, if Kai ever returned to collect them, it would not be a fun time if he found out that Brooklyn had thrown out the photo of Rei and the accompanying business card.

Brooklyn sighed and turned back to the work that was, unfortunately, completely his. He'd deal with that later.

_-o-_

Kai sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he stared intently at his coffee machine, troubled be the thoughts that were running through his head.

He knew that Rei did love him. That much went without saying. Rei just didn't understand how dangerous the world could be. He obviously couldn't see how easy it would be for the world to corrupt something as pure as he was.

That was why Kai had to protect him.

Kai was started out of his reverie by the dual sounds of the coffee machine finishing its job and Rei waking up. He pulled out another cup and quickly finished making coffee for both himself and Rei.

He walked into the lounge where he had moved the unconscious Rei an hour earlier carrying both coffee cups. He found the Chinese man sitting up and blinking sleepily as if he were waking from a long, peaceful sleep rather than a faint induced by panic.

Rei accepted the cup Kai handed him and moved over to allow him to sit down, mind still not fully in gear.

Kai took the vacated side and sat in silence, waiting for Rei to make the first move.

"Ours is better."

Kai blinked. "Huh?" He asked intelligently.

Rei indicated the coffee he was holding. "Ours is better" He repeated, this time with a _very_ slight smile.

Taking a slow sip, Kai considered Rei's words. "You're right, you know." He said. "Not that it's hard to get coffee better than this crap." He added dryly.

Rei let out a bark of laughter. "Well... I wasn't going to say anything..." He trailed off as he remembered just _why_ he had woken up on a stranger's couch and was drinking strange, tasteless coffee.

_At least it's sweet._ Rei mused before being disturbed that Kai knew how he liked his coffee.

_It's not like it's a secret._ He reasoned, controlling the panic that was threatening to rise up again. _Half the regulars at the __café__ probably know I like sweet coffee._

He hated how hollow lies sounded, even in his own head.

Kai was content to let the silence stretch out between them. Silence was better then the blind fear of earlier. That, and it meant that Kai had time to think of a way to explain what was happening to Rei.

Rei shifted uncomfortably in his seat, unsure of how to act. He had never been a hostage before, let alone one held by a psychopath intent on never letting Rei out of his sight again.

Rei made a face as the strong scent of alcohol wafted upwards from his clothes. "Can I... have a shower?" He inwardly winced as the question left his mouth. Obviously when _he_ was being held hostage his thoughts turned towards the mundane rather than the more helpful James Bond-style escape plan.

Kai blinked. "Uh...Sure." He said hesitantly, taken aback by the request. "I'll go find you a towel...and some clothes?"He asked. "I think I'm a size bigger than you but I wasn't sure so I haven't bought you any clothes yet."

"Any clothes other than these would be great." Rei said, gesturing to his clothes, which had not only been stained by alcohol but also had been worn for an entire day at the café.

Kai nodded and disappeared, returning a few minutes and much rummaging later laden with clothes and a towel. "The bathroom's though that door" He said, gesturing with his head as he passed over his treasures.

"Thanks" Rei summoned up a half smile from somewhere within himself before doing his best not to scurry to the bathroom and slam the door, instead managing a _very_ quick walk and shutting the door sharply behind him and smartly turning the lock.

_He's never done this before, either._

Rei allowed his body to slowly slide down the door until he was sitting firmly wedged in the corner connecting the door and the wall as he considered that thought and what it could mean.

Rei's eyes roamed the small room, taking in the generic decor. Before Kai had come into the room Rei had been looking at the whole of the apartment from his vantage point on the couch and had noticed the same bland style throughout the dwelling.

_He hasn't personalised his own home_. Rei mused, getting up slowly and walking over to the small vanity and looking at his own haggard face. _Except with me._ He thought, shivering slightly as he began going through the drawers in search of _anything_ that would give him a clue about his captor.

All he found were a few generic toiletries; spare toothbrushes, a razor, a lethal looking pair of scissors he probably used to keep his hair under control, and replacement bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Nothing the least bit helpful when it came to learning about who Kai was.

Rei sighed and returned to his original train of thought. If this was a first for Kai that meant that, like Rei, he would be largely unsure of what to expect and thus, was liable to make mistakes.

A small, genuine smile crossed Rei's features as the plan began to form.

_-o-_

Kai almost had cardiac arrest when Rei emerged from the bathroom. He had spent his time trying not to think about Rei naked in his shower with varying success. But _this_. _This _was so much better.

Kai had been right. The shirt he had given Rei was a few sizes too big, leaving one shoulder tantalisingly bare.

Rei blushed at Kai's almost predatory stare and, self-consciously, tried to adjust the top, only succeeding in making it reveal more of his shoulder. "Sorry I took so long. I was having trouble making sure my hair didn't get too wet." Rei swung his lengthy hair over his other shoulder to examine it, leaving even more of his bare skin for Kai to oogle.

Kai's gaze travelled up from Rei's neck to find the Chinese man's eyes as he scrutinised his hair for any sign of moisture. Rei met Kai's eyes briefly before turning his attention back to his hair, blushing slightly.

Kai froze, a feeling of uneasiness settling in the pit of his stomach. There was something not quite right about the look that Rei had just given him. He couldn't place his finger on what it was but something had definitely changed since Rei had gone to the bathroom.

"Do you have a brush?" Rei asked suddenly, looking up from his hair and meeting Kai's eyes again. "Something I can use to try to get my hair under control?"

Kai studied Rei's eyes for a long moment before nodding slowly and standing. He moved into his bedroom and rummaged around until he found the brush he had bought for this occasion. He brought the brush out, stripping the store's packaging off as he did so. "Is this ok?"

Rei nodded mutely and held out his hand to take the brush from his captor. "Thanks." He murmured.

Kai's eyes widened as he felt the faintest caress as Rei's hand moved to take the brush from him. _Is he starting to understand?_ He wondered, troubled, as he took his seat back on the opposite end of the couch, watching Rei intently. _Then why does this feel so... wrong?_

Rei placed the brush in his lap as he deftly removed the binding in his hair- now looking a little worse for wear. "Can I ask why I get a new brush? Don't you own one?" He asked casually, shooting Kai another of those looks which made the Russian alternately shiver in admiration and uneasiness.

Kai shook his head mutely. "I don't own one but I thought you might need one." He said, fascinated by the way Rei began sectioning his hair into manageable pieces, wafting the scent that was so uniquely _Rei_ over to Kai in the process.

Rei paused to consider that for a moment. "Oh." He said simply, tackling a section at the front with the brush. "You can't tell, you know-" He said off-handedly as he reached a rather large knot. "-That you don't use a brush on it, I mean. Normally you can but with your hair it looks..." Rei trailed off, realising he was babbling. Instead he began to attack another piece of hair, making a face as it proved to be more tangled than the first piece.

Kai scooted closer to Rei and held out his hand. "May I?" He asked gently, trying not to scare the Chinese man again.

Rei looked at Kai for a moment before relinquishing the brush to him and turning his back. Kai adjusted his grip on the brush and began on the section Rei had given him the feeling of uneasiness moving from the pit of his stomach to take over his whole body. He didn't know what had changed but he knew that whatever had happened had fundamentally changed _his _Rei into the person he was tending to.

Rei leaned in slightly to Kai's attentions. "You know, for a person who doesn't actually own a brush you're surprisingly good with one. It doesn't hurt at all." Rei looked over his shoulder at Kai, flashing him another look combined with a smile.

Rei bit his lip as he looked for his next words. "I'm... Sorry." He said eventually, frowning. The words didn't sound right but he didn't think they made words for what he wanted to say. "I...uh... Didn't understand before." He tried again, still frustrated that he couldn't quite get his meaning across.

They both jumped as the phone rang loudly.

Kai paused in his actions, his gaze flicking toward the phone before turning back to Rei, ignoring the persistent ringing. "I don't understand what you're trying to say." He said, carefully keeping his voice neutral and returning to his task.

The phone stopped, leaving the room in an uncomfortable silence.

Rei reached for Kai's wrist, holding it to stop Kai from brushing. He gently extricated the brush from his hair and spun around so he faced Kai again. "That's probably because I'm not saying it very well." He said with a ghost of a smile. "What I'm trying to say is that... I'm not used to this."

Rei scowled at himself. "And I still can't get it right!" he muttered angrily to himself before looking back at Kai. "I mean that I'm not used to someone looking out for- after, me. It's new. And... I don't think I've reacted too well to it and then I yelled at you and then I-"

Kai held his finger gently against Rei's lips, silencing the Chinese man. "Turn back around." He said quietly, his thumb gently moving to trace the curve of Rei's chin. "I was only halfway through your hair."

Rei blinked before doing what he was told. "Do you understand?" He asked. "I know I've been a bit... But I'll try to stop. I understand." Rei suppressed a shiver as he felt the rhythmic tugging of the brush running through his hair again. "You... only want what's best for me."

"Thank you." Kai continued running the brush through Rei's hair, face set in a frown of thought. As Rei had been talking to him he had realised what his uneasy feeling had been about. If Rei hadn't turned around he would have continued to be blissfully ignorant.

Rei's eyes were flat. As he had been talking there was none of the familiar swirls of gold, betraying his every emotion. His eyes seemed frozen like one of the many inferior photos stuck to Kai's wall. It was like the lifeless Rei from those photos was sitting in front of him, even as he spoke and drew breath.

Kai continued to methodically untangle the hair of the man in front of him as he came to the only conclusion he could. This wasn't his Rei.

_-o-_

Brooklyn sighed as he hung up the phone. He had been trying to reach Kai all morning with no luck. It was as if his former boss had disappeared off the face of the planet.

He turned back to his computer with a sigh before a brainwave hit.

If anyone knew where Kai was it would be Rei. If anything Kai was probably with Rei at this very moment which was why Brooklyn couldn't reach him.

Brooklyn reached down to pull out Kai's box, a small smirk on his features. His smirk widened as he pulled out the business card he had found hidden in the back of picture frame containing Rei's photo.

He lay the card in front of him on the desk and reached for the phone. At least this was one problem solved.

_ -o-_

Lee tapped the kitchen bench anxiously, his nails making a skittering noise matched only by his mind rapidly ticking over. Rei had never been this late. Never. He hadn't told Lee that he was doing anything remarkable the day before and he wasn't answering his phone.

Lee knew he was being ridiculous. Rei was an adult. He was probably just experiencing some kind of throwback to his rebellious teenage years and was at the moment cruising in the Pacific Ocean with a French billionaire he had met while clubbing crazily the night before.

...Or something like that.

Nevertheless Lee had sent Tala to Rei's apartment just to make sure that their boss wasn't just hiding there and ignoring his phone.

Lee began making a new batch of sandwiches, needing something to distract him from his worries.

The piercing shriek of the telephone made him jump, the knife he was using slipping and cutting his finger. Lee swore and stuck his finger in his mouth, tasting the blood as he did so. With his other hand he reached for the telephone. "Hello? Tala?" He asked.

"Um... no. Sorry, this is Brooklyn from McGregor Visionaries. I was just wondering if I could speak to Rei? I'm a co-worker of Kai's, well I used to be anyway, and I'm trying to get in contact with him."

Lee frowned. "I'm sorry? Rei's not here at the moment. Who's Kai?"

A palpable silence came down the phone. "Kai and Rei are... friends. I've just got a few personal things Kai left here and I just want to return them."

"No, I'm sorry. I don't think you understand me. Rei's my closest friend and I've never heard of this 'Kai'. I think you must be mistaken." Lee tried to ignore the small squiggle in the bottom of his stomach. It was just a coincidence that on the morning Rei went missing he got a strange phone call about a friend he had never met, right?

"I'm sorry if that's the case but I'm definitely not mistaken. Kai and Rei are definitely... close friends. Look, I'm just trying to return some of Kai's stuff to him. He's not answering his phone and Rei will know where he is."

Lee felt the squiggle turn into a cold lump in his stomach. "Rei's not answering his phone either. Do you think this Kai will know where he is?"

Brooklyn caught the edge of panic in Lee's voice. "Look, don't worry. I'm sure if they're both not answering then their together somewhere. They're perfectly fine."

"No. If Rei was ensconced in his room by himself he would be perfectly fine. When he's gone missing at the exact same time as someone I've never heard of who is connected to him somehow disappears off the face of the planet there is cause to worry. You don't know Rei. I know all of his friends. Kai isn't one of them. So I'm going to ask you- Where is Kai? Do you have anything? An address? Something?"

"I'm sorry I'm not at liberty to tell you-"

"I don't think I made myself clear. My friend is missing. This is my friend who would call me to complain that he stubbed his toe when he got out of bed. He is not the kind of friend who just disappears. It may be nothing but he and Kai could be in trouble. It might be nothing but they could both be caught up in something and it's gone bad. So I'm going to ask again- _Where is Kai?_"

* * *

Oh... Dramatic.

As always, please tell me what you think. Reviews are my lifeblood.


	16. Love Me

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Love Me

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **Once again, I manage to outdo myself with ridiculous update delays. I have no excuse. Life, I got bored with the characters, I stopped writing altogether, I thought I was completely over Bey.

I was wrong and I'm sorry for taking so long to remember why I love this fandom and why I love writing fanfiction so much.

Moving on from apologies (I'm not good at them), I'm an idiot.

So, last chapter I think I must have looked at the plan (everything I write is (somewhat) meticulously planned) and spat on it while I wrote, laughing manically at my confused future self. So this is only partially what I originally planned for this chapter.

That said, I like this version much, MUCH better. Despite the stress my past self caused me by deviating from the all-important plan I think it lead to a much higher quality and satisfying ending.

This was written while listening to the Phantom of Opera Soundtrack. Seriously, I've listened to the whole thing about twenty times on repeat. I know –all- the words. It's actually kind of strange and, aha, obsessive. That said, It lends nice atmosphere to the whole thing. I'd recommend listening to 'Past the Point of No Return' while you read.

Also, I've managed to hurt my arm in a bout of extreme assignmenting (I -wish- I were making that up.) so about half of this chapter was written with voice recognition software because I'm having a bit of trouble typing. It. Is. AWESOME. XD Though it seems to think Kai's obsessed with 'Rates'.

So here we are, the last actual chapter of Obsession. There'll be an epilogue (posted soon, I hope, I've already got it worked out- just need to write the damn thing) but as for actual story content, this is it.

So, without much further ado, I hope you enjoy it ^^

* * *

Brooklyn held on to the photo frame in a death grip as he walked, trying to remember Lee's directions. It wasn't that the other man had been unclear, exactly, more that fear had seeped into every word. Fear can be quite a distracting thing, especially when combined with something as mundane as directions.

The redhead didn't really understand the fear. Lee had said that Rei was his best friend. Yet, he didn't know about Kai so perhaps he didn't know Rei as well as he thought? Not that uncommon. Neither was a person simply not showing up to work without explanation. Maybe a little unusual, sure, but definitely not cause to be pushing all the panic buttons.

But Lee's fear had been genuine. And so here Brooklyn was, walking.

He felt the presence of the Gatling before he saw it. Mostly through the exploding pain of his shin as it came into contact with one of the chairs set up outside the café.

Brooklyn yelped and let out a few choice curses, before gingerly putting his weight back on to his leg and limping into the café. He spotted a pink-haired girl behind the counter and headed towards her. "I think your furniture wants to kill me," he deadpanned.

Mariah looked up, shocked. She had been spacing out, going over the everything that had happened the day before and trying to remember anything that would give them a clue as to Kai's whereabouts. She hadn't gotten anywhere but had almost perfected her middle-distance staring. "I- what?" she asked. "I'm sorry, I was a million miles away," she recovered, giving Brooklyn the best most non-psychopathic smile she could come up with. "Can I help you with anything?"

Brooklyn blinked when faced with Mariah's not-so-slightly scary smile. "Uh... yeah. I called a little while ago and spoke to Lee? I was looking for a workmate of mine and I think he might know Rei. Anyway, Lee told me to come down here."

"You mean someone else is missing? Not Just Rei?" Mariah asked, all pretence of customer service gone and an intense look of concentration in her eyes. "Do you know something?"

Brooklyn took a step back, "I- uh."

Mariah walked over to the kitchen door and poked her head in, "He's here."

A few milliseconds later, three people practically leapt out of the kitchen.

"Brooklyn?" Lee demanded.

Looking like a deer caught in the headlights, Brooklyn nodded slowly. "Um... you told me to come down here?" He tried.

"You said you knew something about Rei?" Lee asked, making an effort to look a little less intimidating. "Sorry if we're scaring you but it's really important."

Brooklyn held out the picture he'd been carrying. "He's the boyfriend of one of my co-workers," he paused before correcting himself, "-well, _ex_-co-worker, really. I called because Kai left a few things at the office and I thought Rei might be able to get in contact with him.

"I told you, Rei doesn't have a boyfriend." Lee muttered more to himself than to Brooklyn, reaching and taking the picture. He looked down at the photo and froze.

"What is it?" Tala looked over Lee's shoulder and frowned. "Hey, isn't that the outfit Rei was wearing that night we went out? I thought it was just you and Rei there."

"It _was_." Lee said, a sick feeling in his stomach. He'd known something was wrong as soon as Rei hadn't shown up that morning but he had thought it was something along the lines of a car accident. Something serious but not anything that required the slow fizz of panic that was beginning in his body.

Brooklyn frowned, tilting his head to the side. "What's wrong?"

"Do you have a photo of this Kai?" Lee asked, handing the picture of Rei back to Brooklyn.

Brooklyn bit his lip in thought. "Kai's not exactly a... photo person." A look of inspiration crossed his face. "Wait— I might have something"

He pulled his wallet from his pocket and started rummaging through it. "I'm pretty sure that Enri took a photo one day and he gave it to me. Or... at least I think he did." He let out a little 'aha', as his fingers found what he was looking for: a bent and crumpled photo shoved into a corner of his wallet.

"Here it is." He handed Lee the photo with an apologetic smile at the condition of the photograph.

Lee snatched the photo from his fingers. He scanned the faces of the people in the photo. There was Brooklyn, looking a little nervously up at the lens, and a blonde boy who looked far too happy to be in an office setting. The blonde boy dragged a green-haired man into the frame. Behind that—

Lee's eyes narrowed as she saw the familiar red eyes of the man glowering behind the trio. That was—!

"Tala..." he said, handing the photo to the redhead.

"Mister Bitter-Pants!" Tala said as he saw the familiar crimson gaze. He looked up at Brooklyn, "He's a regular here. He comes here every day for lunch. But he doesn't know Rei."

Brooklyn frowned. "I know he's a regular. He comes here every day because he it means he can see his boyfriend, Rei."

"And the excellent food, of course," Lee interjected, unable to stop himself.

Tala shook his head. "He's only ever spoken to Rei maybe ten times. If that." He tapped Kai's unsmiling image, considering it. "If there was any more to it, I would know about it."

"How can you be sure about that?" Brooklyn asked. "He's your boss. Not your best friend."

Tala smirked, exchanging knowing looks with the rest of the staff. "With Rei it's the same thing."

"Besides," Lee said, handing the photograph back to Brooklyn, "seeing Kai's face, I now know for sure that _Kai was not there that day_. I have never spoken to him. "

Lee paused, a thoughtful look coming over his eyes, chasing away the fear with something that looked suspiciously like a plan. "However... I think that now might be the time we start talking."

Brooklyn frowned, confused, "I don't understand what's going on. How could Kai not be there? How did he get that photo then?"

Lee turned and walked the few short steps he needed to get to the kitchen door. He opened it and reached inside to grab his coat. "Two excellent questions. Two excellent questions I intend to ask him directly. I assume that you know his address?"

Brooklyn looked uncomfortable. He hadn't expected this. He had expected to come to the Gatling and find that Rei's co-workers didn't know him as well as they thought. He hadn't expected to come and find that perhaps he didn't know Kai as well as he thought he had. And he had never pretended to himself that he knew Kai... "I-"

"You what?" Bryan asked, speaking for the first time. "You knew his number. That's why you know he's not picking up his phone. You knew enough about him to call us about Rei- despite the fact that we know nothing about him. This means that you know his address. It's your company records. You will take Lee to this address and you will find out where Rei is."

Brooklyn started, staring up at the sudden mass of menace that was Bryan. "I-", he swallowed his throat suddenly dropped. "I don't know his address off the top my head."

"But-?" Bryan asked as he folded his arms in front of him, fixing Brooklyn with narrow glare.

"But I can find out, "Brooklyn said meekly.

"That might be a good idea." Bryan ignored the looks from Tala that told him he was going to get a lot of kinky sex that night in reward for his heroics.

Lee nodded. He turned to look at the staff. "Tala, you're head chef for the moment. Make sure that lunch is ready and everything is running as normal," He ordered, somewhat surprised when the redhead acquiesced without a fight. "Bryan and Mariah, hold down the fort. Remember, no one, especially not our paying customers, needs to know that there is something wrong in our world. Can you imagine what Rei will say if we scare all the customers just because we're having a bad day?" He turned to look Brooklyn. "I'm coming with you. I suggest that you find Kai's address _now."_

Brooklyn nodded and turned to leave the café. He did not understand what was going on. He didn't like what was going on. But that undercurrent of fear that he had heard in Lee's voice over the phone had started to take its toll. He felt the thrumming of fear and an uneasiness settle in his stomach as he tried to figure out why Kai would have a photo of a man he had barely talked to on his desk. And why that man would have disappeared on the same day Kai dropped off the face of the Earth.

Most importantly, however, he thought as the pieces began to drop into place, he tried to understand why something like this was happening in his life. People lied about having close relationships with each other all the time. It was how they got by. But no one ever acted on their lies.

_Did they?_

-o-

"I'm hungry."

Kai paused in his brushing of Rei's hair. He quickly did a mental inventory of his pantry. It didn't take long. "I might be able to get you a sandwich... or another cup of coffee?"

"Not more coffee," he said quickly. "Seriously, you need to throw that shit _away_". He softened his criticism with a smile. "A sandwich sounds fine. Do you have jam? Or something sweet?"

Kai gave a small smile. "I'll see what I can find.", he passed the hairbrush to Rei and stood slowly. He walked quickly to the kitchen, once again going through his mental pantry.

He could still smell the fruity scent of Rei's hair. But it wasn't Rei. Even if this Fake Rei acted like Rei It wasn't him. The colour in the life in his eyes wasn't there. This wasn't Rei. He had to remember.

Kai went through the motions of making a sandwich, finding strawberry jam in his fridge. He made a mental note to go shopping; they needed supplies before they escaped.

He walked back into their living room, pausing as he was treated with a vision of beauty lying on his couch. Rei had given up trying to brush his mane into submission. Instead, he had let it hang loose around him, framing his body.

Despite knowing that this wasn't Rei, Kai felt a small thrill run through him. He knew that this Fake Rei could only be a cheap imitation of the real thing. But even in his imitation of perfection, he still had elements of what made the original so fascinating and enchanting.

Rei accepted the sandwich with a, "Thank you", unsure about where to go now. He hadn't thought this plan through. Granted, it was fairly hard to think something like this through while one was trapped in the bathroom. But when he had come up with this idea it had seemed so good and so logical. It was only when he reached the crux of the plan he began to have misgivings.

"Kai...?" Rei asked tentatively.

"Hm?" Kai broke out of his reverie. Even in imitation Rei could make eating a sandwich look mesmerising. If it wasn't for those dead, flat eyes Kai could almost believe it was his Rei. But he knew better.

"You trust me, don't you?" Rei asked meeting Kai's crimson eyes with his own golden ones.

"..." Kai's full lips pursed in thought, considering how to answer that. "I-I can't." When all else fails, try honesty. He reached forward to run the back of his fingers down Rei's smooth cheek.

No, not Rei. Something else.

"I had to bring you here because I can't trust you to always make the right decisions to protect yourself." He tried to explain, stumbling over his own words. "It's dangerous out there."

Rei stood, ignoring the bolts of pain his legs sent him, reminding him that, yes, they were still there and, yes, they did resent him keeping them in one place for so long.

"And you can't trust me not to understand that?" Rei asked. "I told you before, I understand that you've only got my best interests at heart. But... isn't it all meaningless if you can't trust me to make my own decisions sometimes?"

Rei held out his hand to Kai. Originally, he had hoped to simply ask Kai for the keys to the apartment as a show of trust. He had thought Kai was too far gone to recognise what he was really asking.

He had been wrong. Even crazy people could be particularly astute when they wanted to be.

Kai took Rei's hand and stood, releasing it when he had gained his balance.

Rei felt a horrible sinking feeling of knowledge as his mind provided him with a new plan to get the key. If he couldn't convince Kai with words...

Rei closed his eyes for a long second before opening them again to regard Kai.

"What do you want?" Kai asked, staring at the flat, emotionless depths of Rei's eyes._ I know you're not him. I know you're not Rei._

Rei backed up until he felt the solidity of the wall behind him, steeling himself. If he wanted freedom this was the only way. He needed that key. If he turned his head he could see the wall of covered in pictures of himself above Kai's table.

He chose not to turn his head.

He flicked his gaze up to Kai, a small smile on his lips. "Come here and I'll show you."

Despite his misgivings, Kai was powerless. Even if this wasn't his Rei, almost every detail was perfect. Every detail except the eyes. Kai took a few hesitant steps toward this not-Rei.

Rei smiled at Kai's hesitation and reached forward to grab the front of Kai's shirt. The smile turned into a naughty smirk as he pulled an unresisting Kai forward. "I want you to trust me," he said in a voice only meant for Kai's ears.

Rei's hands left Kai's shirt and travelled, palms open, up the other's chest and over his shoulders. Rei's hands tensed a moment before the travelled up to caress Kai's neck and pull the bluenette's head down the fraction it needed for their lips to brush.

Kai's eyes fluttered shut. Despite what he knew, despite _everything_, he was engulfed in the heady rush of joy and calm and pure _need _that Rei's presence caused. And that brief touch of lips wasn't enough.

Kai claimed Rei's lips with his own, pushing Rei firmly against the wall and moulding his body to the Chinese man's. Despite this, his lips were gentle, speaking of long-held obsession.

Rei's eyes slid shut as he responded, it was impossible not to. His left hand moved to entangle itself in Kai's hair, running the soft locks through his fingers and massaging gently.

Kai made a small sound in the back of his throat at Rei's movements. Despite _everything_ this was as close to a perfect moment as he had ever had. This moment was the reason he had existed for all of these years. This was more than he had ever hoped for in his life. He ran his tongue over Rei's soft, inviting lips, requesting entrance.

The Chinese man complied hesitantly, his hand tightening in Kai's hair as the other's tongue entered shyly to brush his own. His other hand began to travel downwards, tracing patterns on Kai's back as it travelled further, intent on feeling every inch of the other's form.

Kai was almost lost. If before had been a the most perfect moment in his life, now was the moment most lived and died without ever having experienced. It was beyond perfect. Rei tasted of sunshine and the first warm breeze of spring. His senses sung as he felt Rei's tongue move against his softly, inviting and accepting Kai despite everything.

Rei's hands abandoned Kai's back to skirt and play with the waistband of his pants, hands still travelling lower, searching.

Kai's hands moved like lightning, snatching both of Rei's hands away and pinning them to the wall. He pulled away from the perfect moment and back into hurtful reality. The reality where an imposter pretended to be his Rei.

"You won't find the keys there," he said in as steady a voice as he could manage.

Rei's golden eyes snapped up to meet his, the colour swirling with passion and shock.

Kai stared into those eyes, so full of life and indomitable passion. No camera could catch the emotions that flowed through those eyes constantly. Rei's eyes were a thing of beauty, reflecting the perfect being hiding behind them.

His Rei was here, regarding him with those eyes no camera could ever capture.

Kais grip loosened as he took in that realisation. "...Rei?"

"Let. Me. _Go." _Rei's knee snapped up, hitting Kai in the crotch.

Kai's vision turned white as he fell, his mouth open in a silent scream of pain.

Rei, pressing his advantage, withdrew the scissors he had stolen from Kai's bathroom. "Where are the keys, Kai?" He asked, keeping his voice as steady as he could. He hadn't wanted to resort to this. If Kai had gone along with his seduction plan this wouldn't have been necessary.

Kai's mouth moved a few times, trying to find his voice as the pain began to ebb away. "R-Re-" He tried, struggling to get his feet underneath him.

"The keys, Kai." Rei ordered, sidling along the wall to get further away from the bluenette keeping the scissors between himself and the other.

Kai stood slowly and painfully, looking at Rei in disbelief. "I'm – I'm only trying to protect you. _Why can't you see that?_" He pleaded, taking a shaky step toward Rei.

Rei's hands were shaking uncontrollably. "Stop where you are, Kai. Just tell me where the keys are and I'll let myself out. No one needs to get hurt."

"I can't." Kai stepped forward smoothly and gripped Rei's wrist, forcing it out and away from them, rendering the weapon useless.

Rei physically felt the fight leave him in that movement, his muscles going limp in Kai's grip. Even when he had a weapon he couldn't put it to use. Even now, he couldn't use a weapon against his captor.

The scissors fell to the floor with a clang that made Rei flinch.

Paying no heed to the weapon, Kai used his unoccupied hand to gently caress Rei's smooth cheek.

"Don't you see this is how it's meant to be?" He asked, his voice the fervent whisper of a man who has fallen so far they can no longer hear themselves. "Didn't you feel it when we kissed?"

Rei shuddered, turning his face away from Kai's hand. "Please-"

"Rei, I-", Kai moved so his crimson eyes met Rei's golden ones, still full of life and passion. "I love you."

At those words, Rei felt his strength return in a surge of anger. He didn't deserve this. He hadn't invited this upon himself. He hadn't done this. He didn't deserve this.

This wasn't love. Love was something that was supposed to bring great joy and great pain. Love was supposed to be shared and treasured. Love wasn't supposed to be about fear, or strength, or control. You didn't need to force your protection on the ones you love. You simply protected them and, when that failed, you stayed behind to pick up the pieces. Love was about trust. There was no trust here, only fear and hatred. This wasn't love.

This was obsession.

"Don't say that!" Rei threw the last of his strength in an effort to push Kai away from him.

Unprepared, Kai stumbled backwards, one of his feet landing on the scissors Rei had dropped.

Rei would remember the next few seconds for the rest of his life.

Kai lost his footing, falling with a sound of surprise. His head came squarely in contact with the corner of the table as he fell.

Kai's body hit the ground and stayed there, a rapidly expanding pool of blood forming a red halo around his head and staining the lighter hair at the front of his head.

_Is he...?_

Rei's legs gave out, no longer able to support him. Too much had happened. Too much for one person. Too much for one day. Too much for one lifetime.

Rei felt the burning sensation of bile begin to rise in his throat. Instead of fighting it he turned aside and emptied his stomach, trying to purge everything from him. He didn't want any part of this experience remaining with him.

He continued to dry retch as his stomach reminded him he'd only eaten a sandwich since lunchtime the day before.

He dared to look over his shoulder at Kai's still form, a wave of cold washing over him and making him shiver uncontrollably. He felt his stomach clench with the urge to throw up again but there was nothing left and he didn't have the energy any more.

Instead, his curled in on himself, his breathing unsteady. As an afterthought, he felt cold tracks down his face. He couldn't remember crying. He didn't know when he had started, He hadn't been aware of it. Rei buried his head in his arms as great, racking sobs tore through his body. This wasn't how it was meant to be. This wasn't how things were supposed to end.

He could feel his heart beating too fast. His world narrowed to the feeling of his heart, beating so fast and loud he could almost feel his entire body vibrating with each rhythmic thump. His world became only the sound of his heart and that terrible feeling of cold, like his body was trying to freeze itself from the inside out.

_Thump_

He didn't want to die like this, trapped in a house with his captor.

_Thump_

He wanted to risk another look at Kai to confirm that the bluenette wasn't going to hurt him.

_Thump_

He couldn't. The image of Kai's still form had already burned itself into his memory forever. Reinforcing it would only lead to insanity.

_Thump_

He could still feel Kai's lips on his. He could still taste him, a cold, biting flavour Rei associated with frost and desperation.

_Thump_

He could still feel the way Kai had held him, not as someone who loves another but as someone who could not exist without a possession.

_Thump_

Rei shivered, clutching the shirt Kai had lent him around his slim frame. It wasn't nearly adequate.

_Thump_

And now Kai was dead. Rei had killed him.

_Thump_

_Murderer_

_Thump_

"Rei! Rei are you there?"

Rei's heart subsided as its thumping gave way to a frantic beating on the door and Lee's voice filtering through.

"Lee?" He whispered, his voice a hoarse croak. Realising his friend would have no chance of hearing that he tried again, "LEE!"

The pounding paused for a second. Rei heard a muffled "Did you hear that?"

"LEE!" He tried again before breaking into a coughing fit. "Help!" He choked out. "Help me!"

"He's there! He's-"

Rei wincing as a deafening thud echoed through the apartment. And another. And-

CRASH

"Rei!"

He heard Lee's sharp intake of breath as Lee took in his surroundings. "What the fuck is this?" He asked the room at large, seeing the wall of Rei, Kai's still body and Rei's huddled form.

Rei felt the warm arms of his best friend encircle him, driving off the demons and opening his world to something more than his heart and the cold. He buried his face in the other's thick main of hair, starting to shake again.

"What happened, Rei?"

Rei shook his head, unable to put into words anything that would even begin to answer Lee's question.

"What did you do to Kai?" Brooklyn asked, rushing in behind Lee and running to the bluenette's side. "There's so much blood! What did you do?"

"Rei didn't do anything." Lee all but growled, automatically going to Rei's defence. He still didn't understand what was going on but the apartment they were in didn't paint a very positive picture. "Whatever that freak got he deserved."

"Is-Is he dead?" Rei managed.

Brooklyn put two fingers to Kai's neck, searching for a pulse. "No." He said after a few seconds before tearing a strip of cloth from his sleeve and trying to staunch the flow of blood from the bluenette's temple. "What _happened_?"

Rei sagged against Lee upon hearing that he wasn't a murderer. He felt Lee's arms tighten around him, supporting him.

"Take me home, Lee," he pled. "I can't be here anymore."

Lee's heart broke a little bit. He still didn't know what had happened but anything that could take Rei from the bright, energetic, constantly optimistic man he knew to the broken and huddled man he held in his arms couldn't be anything other than the things nightmares were made of.

"Soon, Rei. Soon." He comforted as his eyes darted around the room. "Brooklyn." He said levelly so as not to startle Rei. "Telephone. Call an ambulance." He paused, thinking, "call two."

Brooklyn turned to argue but, upon seeing the wild look in Lee's eyes, decided against it. He stood after fashioning a bandage around Kai's head. Spotting the phone, he walked over to it and began dialling.

Lee adjusted his grip around Rei. "I'm going to get you out to the hallway." He said quietly. "You shouldn't be here anymore."

"_Please" _Rei asked, a fresh round of tears falling to be absorbed by Lee's hair.

Lee bit his lip, controlling the urge to walk over to Kai and finish the job Rei had started. Whatever he had done, he had left Rei in a state it would take him a long time to recover from.

_If he ever recovered_ a traitorous part of his mind added.

"You're going to have to help me with this," Lee said, slinging one of Rei's arms over his shoulder. They stood slowly, Rei holding barely any of his own weight. "It's going to be alright." Lee assured Rei as they staggered together towards the door, unable to find a rhythm that would allow them both to walk less awkwardly. "I promise. He can't hurt you anymore."

They stepped over the ruins of Kai's door and into the relative brightness of the hallway outside.

Rei blinked at the change of light. He hadn't noticed how gloomy Kai's apartment was. He hadn't noticed the oppressive atmosphere.

He hadn't noticed until he was hit by the harsh, artificial light of the hallway. The light that burned him and set a clear boundary between _here_ and _there_. The light that told him clearly and without question

_You are free_.

"It's over." Rei breathed, sagging further into the solid, supporting form of his friend. "It's really over."

* * *

Amen, ReiRei, Amen.

Please tell me what you think


	17. Epilogue

**Title: **Obsession

**Author: **PandaPjays

**Chapter Title: **Epilogue

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Yaoi. KaiRei TalaBryan if you don't like, don't read it. Fairly creepy themes and violence towards the end.

**Disclaimer: **If anyone has ever thought I owned Beyblades they were WRONG. I just like stealing the characters and using for my own amusement

**Author Note: **Annd done. Told you I'd already worked out what the epilogue was- hence the weirdly fast update.

So, I looked at the publish date of this and realised that it's been almost five years since I began this. That's... actually no, I don't want to try and think about it. Too long. Too long.

That said, after five years I've finally changed the summary to something coherent. What can I say? I suck at summaries but I like having a go at them anyways. So now the summary actually (somewhat) says what the story's about as opposed to some random gibberish. Yay!

So, now I'm left with the problem: What's next? I like the idea of starting another longer fic again (as much as I love writing oneshots there's something enjoyable about keeping a longer story going- not for five years, though, am new and shiny and committed. See this commitment right here? –points- Yeah, that's right XP.)

Anyways, I've been mulling over a JoRe/KaRe!spy fic for an age so I was thinking about doing that or possibly a BryanBrooklyn fic that I found half-planned in one of my notebooks (Though that one would be fairly short). Or maybe something else entirely? I'd love your opinions about what you'd like to read XD

On to this fic. In my original plan, Kai died in the last chapter but when I got there it just didn't feel right. This epilogue, however, feels like it's the only conclusion this story could have had. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for sticking with me!

* * *

"...And what about Rei?"

Kai paused, considering the question. It'd been a year since he'd been admitted to BBA Psychiatric Institution. A year since he'd last seen Rei.

It hadn't been a year since Rei had plagued his thoughts, however. He was maybe pushing three seconds on that count.

Kai sighed and turned to look out the window. He was sitting in the too-white office of the too-nice therapist who'd been seeing him since he'd been admitted. He'd be lying if he'd said the obligatory sessions were his favourite part of the hospital but sometimes... they helped.

"Kai?" She asked.

"Hm?" Kai turned back to face her.

She smiled indulgently. "You've been avoiding talking about him for the past few sessions. You keep on steering the conversation that way then changing the subject when you realise what you're doing. Not that I don't admire your ingenuity..."

Kai smirked. "That obvious, huh?"

She made a noncommittal noise, "Is there something you want to get off your chest?"

"Not really... I just miss him." Kai shrugged and looked away again and out of the window. The hospital was in the middle of the city so there weren't any expanses of grass and trees like those places you always saw in the movies. Nor was it depressing and dirty like those places you always saw in the depressing movies. The window looked out to a courtyard and the wall that separated his world from the outside one; the world Rei lived in.

Noticing the therapist's silence, he turned to look at her again with what he hoped was a reassuring smile on his face. "I know." He said quietly. "I know I shouldn't be missing what I never really had but-" He trailed off, remembering the exact colour of Rei's eyes, the way they had constantly flashed and swirled with the vibrancy and passion of their owner. "-I miss him," he finished.

"Do you think you ever won't miss him?"

"Never," Kai said with a definiteness that invited no argument. He chose not to elaborate on that. He couldn't without sounding clichéd. Rei was too much a part of him. Even now, a year after everything, Kai felt like the centre of his universe had been ripped away from him and now he was simply heading aimlessly through life without anything to anchor him to a path. He was in freefall.

But every now and then he found that he had time to admire the scenery while he fell.

He closed his eyes as a wave of calm and clarity came over him. It hadn't happened often since he'd been admitted, maybe half a dozen times. The rest of the time he was stuck in the haze he'd become accustomed to since he had first seen Rei.

Sometimes, however, when the fog lifted, Kai began to believe. He began to believe that there was hope and a future out there for him when he was released. He began to believe that maybe- just maybe- there was a chance that he could get better and place the nightmare of his life firmly behind him.

The clarity gave him hope that he could be normal again.

Closing his eyes against the too-white room with the too-nice therapist, Kai smiled.

-o-

Rei smiled as he handed over a tray of coffee to the older lady sitting at the reception desk. "Here you go. I hope they didn't get too cold on my way over."

The receptionist accepted the tray and inhaled deeply, loving the rich smell that wafted up from the cups.

"Thanks, Rei, you're a champion. When Gladys's car broke down we didn't know what we'd do! This hospital doesn't run without caffeine. Or it does- just not very fast." She began to sort through the cups, finding her own and separating the rest into their owner's departments so she could deliver them more easily.

Rei waved off her thanks, "Couldn't leave you in your hour of need, could I? That'd be inhumane and cruel. Besides, I know how terrible the coffee they provide in any place like this is. Trust me, I've been there. I understand the need."

"You're sweet. And absolutely correct." She made a face. "I swear they pick the coffee here in an attempt to find just _how_ terrible it can get."

Rei laughed, "The fact that you still call it coffee means they haven't hit rock bottom yet, right?"

"Trust me, I use that word _very_ loosely"

The phone on the desk began ringing, making both Rei and the receptionist jump. She gave Rei an apologetic smile. "You have a great day, okay?"

Rei grinned and gave her a wave. "Always do. If Gladys is still having trouble with her car tomorrow don't hesitate to call. I like coming out here- it's always a nice break in my day."

The receptionist nodded the affirmative before picking up the phone, "Hello, you've reached BBA Psychiatric Institution, how can I help you?"

Rei left the building, ignoring the sense of uneasiness that the hospital always gave him. They were good customers and providing delivery when they couldn't make it to the Gatling themselves always made Rei feel useful. He hadn't done it often, only about half a dozen times and only when they couldn't get to the café themselves but it was always good to prove to himself that he could function outside of his comfort zone.

It had been a year since the events in Kai's apartment and Rei would be lying if he said he still didn't wake up in the night too terrified to move. Even after a year, the nightmares still plagued him. He'd worked out how to go about his daily life without Kai's shadow hanging over him but at night he was defenceless. And it was at night that the terror gripped him.

Still, working at the Gatling grounded him and helped him to believe. He believed that every time he did something that reminded him of his old life, even if it was something mundane as paperwork or delivering coffee to old ladies, he regained a little of his old self back. He believed that every time he achieved a small victory like stepping outside of his door and interacting with people he regained some more strength. And sometimes those beliefs gave him hope that maybe- just maybe- he could get better and learn to trust again. He believed that in the future he would have the strength to leave that nightmare firmly behind him.

Sometimes, he even believed that he could be normal again.

* * *

_**End

* * *

**_

It's done! It's done! It's finally over! Four years past the time I _thought_ it would be done in but I'm proud that I didn't give up on it.

Please tell me what you think. Please please please! Reviews make me smile and, without fail, always brighten my day. And I genuinely do want to know what you think – awesome end-of-story-summative-reviews are awesome.

Once again, thank you so much for sticking with me this long! I'm going to go crack an energy drink and eat some candy to celebrate. Cheers!


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